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With great power comes great responsibility: a quote everyone has heard, especially if you are a fan of “Spider-Man.” Well, dear ol’ Uncle Ben should’ve told young Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan) this proverb instead of his nephew Peter Parker.
“Chronicle” is a home video movie just like “Cloverfield,” already giving this movie a great start and a cool way to experience the film.
A senior in high school, Andrew is abused by his alcoholic father who stays home and collects insurance while Andrew’s mother is bedridden and close to dying. Shy and constantly bullied at school, he finds a friend in his cousin Matt (Alex Russell).
Andrew videotapes each day, showing just how much pain he goes through at home and at school. He falls so in love with the idea of taping every moment of every day that he actually takes the camera to a party. This is the first party that he has attended, and he only goes because Matt drags him there in an attempt to get him to go out and be social.
This party changes his life–not because he has a great time, but rather because he encounters a supernatural diamond that makes him, his cousin and the most popular kid at school, Stephen (Michael B. Jordan), superhuman beings.
The boys’ lives become something seen only in sci-fi movies, and they gain supernatural powers that allow them to move objects and fly, as well as possess superhuman strength.
However, with all these strengths, young and innocent Andrew, who has never had any control over anything in his life besides his camera, becomes corrupt and slowly mutates into the person he hates the most: his father.
This is anything but a superhero movie, and it takes a great spin on the idea of superpowers. With three teenagers showing just how much fun it is to be young and powerful, it also relays just how quickly a great thing can become corrupt. For example, Andrew cared about his mother, yet once he gains too much control over his power, he becomes a different person.
If you are not a fan of superpowers, superheroes or anything that allows your imagination to take control, this movie is definitely not for you.
This movie gives a great view of what it would be like to finally have a superpower, and the great camera angles, which make it seem as though you are Andrew, make it even more believable and allow the audience to submerge themselves into the characters.
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