If you haven't seen the full trailer for Chronicle, it's probably for the best. If you do watch it, disregard the way it portrays the characters. The trailer is cut like a typical high school movie, probably to appeal to typical high school students. As such, it looks like you'll have to spend the prerequisite "fifteen minutes with jerks" you usually do with these kinds of movies. Thankfully, you don't.
We've all seen enough recut trailers that turn Jaws into a buddy comedy or Mary Poppins into a horror movie to know they're a pretty poor judge of what a movie is actually like. Honestly, the most effective trailer is the 15 second one Hulu plays as a commercial.
We've all seen enough recut trailers that turn Jaws into a buddy comedy or Mary Poppins into a horror movie to know they're a pretty poor judge of what a movie is actually like. Honestly, the most effective trailer is the 15 second one Hulu plays as a commercial.
Chronicle is about three teenagers who get superpowers, and what happens next. It's the best take I've seen on superpowers in real life, and an amazing story with three dimensional characters. It has great economy of storytelling - there are no wasted scenes and no wasted dialogue; in fact, the movie is only an hour and a half.
All the same, I can't get it out of my head. I have now spent an amount of time talking, thinking, and writing about the movie equivocal to, and even exceeding, what I did in the theater.
All the same, I can't get it out of my head. I have now spent an amount of time talking, thinking, and writing about the movie equivocal to, and even exceeding, what I did in the theater.
A lot of people are calling it an American Akira. While I think the comparison is well drawn - and the director/write admits Akira was a huge influence - I think Chronicle surpasses Akira in the area of character development. Tetsuo and Kaneda never felt as real as these guys. I never sympathized with them the way I do with Matt and Steve and Andrew.
This is possibly because I'm an American. Then again, Chronicle just makes more sense to me, because I still don't know what happened at the end of Akira, or even in some of the middle bits.
This is possibly because I'm an American. Then again, Chronicle just makes more sense to me, because I still don't know what happened at the end of Akira, or even in some of the middle bits.
At any rate, I recommend everyone should go and see the movie. I highly doubt you will be disappointed. It's not your typical superhero movie; it's not your typical high school, found footage, or even sci-fi movie. It's got tight pacing, real emotional weight, and presence.
Seriously, that is just how superpowers would work in real life. In that sense, it's almost like a waking dream, and in some places, a nightmare.
Go!
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