"Chronicle" Preview

[The Cooler King]

Saw this posted on another board, and didn't see a topic for it here. Looks interesting to me... like a Blair Witch/Cloverfield-type take on superpowers.

[FaxModem1]

Looks interesting. And it's pretty true, someone with a superpower would probably become more and more callous about how they use it over time.

[Majin Gojira]

That just reminds me of one of the many re-edits done to a rather infamous comic where Captain America is confronted with the idea of being "out of touch" and his battle against hero registration being moot.

I believe the edited response was "we're lucky such good people got these powers in the first place!"

This film, obviously, is what happens when the people are a bit more . . . base.

Interesting.

[FaxModem1]

That just reminds me of one of the many re-edits done to a rather infamous comic where Captain America is confronted with the idea of being "out of touch" and his battle against hero registration being moot.

I believe the edited response was "we're lucky such good people got these powers in the first place!"

This film, obviously, is what happens when the people are a bit more . . . base.

Interesting.

You got a link to that reedit?

[Majin Gojira]

Found it, it's thanks to mightygodking, of course. He does some of the best edits.

Enjoy.

[LadyTevar]

Yes, I can totally see this happening. Power corrupts, especially if those with power have never learned restraint in the first place.

[Ahriman238]

Yes, I can totally see this happening. Power corrupts, especially if those with power have never learned restraint in the first place.

Maybe. If I found myself with TK (what these guys seem to have) I htink I'd keep it low-key, even if I didn't consider myself a relatively moral person because bullet probably > telekinesis.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Did you see the part in the trailer where they bend a fork against the back of one of their hands? It looks like they got invulnerability too.

[Sarevok]

Edit :

Post redacted.

[Cosmic Average]

Did you see the part in the trailer where they bend a fork against the back of one of their hands? It looks like they got invulnerability too.

Nah, it's because they can create force fields, so the kid with the fork created one over the other kid's hand.

It was a good movie. Some of the character actions were a bit dumb.

[evilsoup]

This movie gets an official evilsoup thumbs-up.
Spoiler

I thought the characters' actions flowed well from their characterisations and their flaws and etc. I actually found the main character's 'turning evil' bit believable, when normally that stuff just makes me roll my eyes until I go blind. I was put in mind of all the people here who have revenge fantasies against their school bully tormentors...

And the camerawork actually worked. They used something like the blair witch/cloverfield 'found footage' approach, except they made it not annoying (it's handheld, except for when it's TK-held, but there is no shaky-cam bullshit. Not that I noticed, anyway).

The very very ending, with the one surviving guy going off to Tibet, was bullshit. It ruined the conceit of using the handheld video cameras: up until that point I could believe that all of this footage was put together by a police investigation after the events in the city, but that really ruined the effect.

It was a good movie. Some of the character actions were a bit dumb.

What particularly are you thinking of? And do you mean objectively stupid (they do plenty of that stuff), or unbelievable/out-of-character?

[Moby Halcyon]

The movie was really worth a watch. The characterization is probably the best part - it's not a superhero movie at all beyond the characters getting telekinesis, so you get to watch the characters slowly grow outward.

By the end, though, I was getting the idea that Andrew enjoyed the cameras to an almost pathological degree - it's especially obvious when he just grabs everyone's cell phones to float around him just for kicks right before the final fight begins.

[Executor32]

The movie looks good, but goddamn some of the people looking forward to it are annoying. Look at the comments section about it at IMDb, for example. Someone will say, rationally I might add, that though a lot of it is handheld-style, there's also quite a bit of traditional camerawork (explained in-universe as the camera being TK-held). Then come the mouth-breathers going "NUH UH IT'S ALL HANDYCAM THE DIRECTOR SAID SO IN AN INTERVIEW". Rinse and repeat. It's almost as if they don't realize that it's just a movie, and there aren't really people out there with superpowers and shit.

[The Cooler King]

Saw it Friday, and thought it was pretty good. They used the 'found footage' conceit better than most other movies I've seen, and the character arcs were believable. You can really feel the sense of exhilaration in these kids' heads as they explore their powers. The last 20 minutes were exactly what I'd expect to see in a fight between superpowered beings; throwing each other through walls, massive property destruction, people being thrown around like ragdolls... I did kind of expect the bit with Andrew Spoiler

disassembling the spider

to come in near the end Spoiler

(apparently, in the original script, he kills his father in the same way)

.

[neoolong]

The movie looks good, but goddamn some of the people looking forward to it are annoying. Look at the comments section about it at IMDb, for example. Someone will say, rationally I might add, that though a lot of it is handheld-style, there's also quite a bit of traditional camerawork (explained in-universe as the camera being TK-held). Then come the mouth-breathers going "NUH UH IT'S ALL HANDYCAM THE DIRECTOR SAID SO IN AN INTERVIEW". Rinse and repeat. It's almost as if they don't realize that it's just a movie, and there aren't really people out there with superpowers and shit.

Not exactly a spoiler, but it's not found footage in the traditional sense. It's footage captured from in-universe cameras, but it's not presented as footage found later and spliced together.

There's a camera used in the beginning that is lost/destroyed.

[ray245]

It would be a lot better if they transit from a handheld/Blair Witch style movie into a more traditional style movie towards the end, taking inspiration from district 9.

A bit of background music in the third act could have easily make the ending a lot more emotional and enjoyable.

[jollyreaper]

Yes, I can totally see this happening. Power corrupts, especially if those with power have never learned restraint in the first place.

Guns in the hands of morons are bad enough since the distance between urge to kill and death is just the twitch of a finger. If the gap between urge and death is as little as a thought, things could get messier. There was a Twilight Zone episode about the dangers of a kid with godlike psychic powers but a child's petulant mentality. The Elfen Lied manga was a pretty good take on just how psychotic creepy girls who could kill with their minds would get.

Usually the gap between urge and result is greater than the pull of a trigger. It's hard to get guns and even for those who do, it's hard to kill a lot of people at one time. Most school and workplace shootings only have a few victims. Even when someone us wholly dedicated to murder, a Virginia Tech shooting is pretty damn rare. You can kill dozens but not hundreds, not thousands.

Towards the end of this trailer it looks like the scale of mayhem is getting huge. Can he pull a plane from the sky with a thought? Can he knock down a skyscraper?

People can be pretty damn psychotic already even when it's just a question of ordering your guards to kill people. Caligula did what he did while being completely human, just nuts. If he had psychic powers? Oy. More sisters raped and horses elected to Senate, that's for sure.

[Vympel]

Saw it last night - best found footage movie ever made, period.

[Lost Soal]

Saw it last night - best found footage movie ever made, period.

Saw it last night and I agree. However I'm hesitant to call it a found footage movie, its shot POV but its not presented as found. There is no preamble or epilogue, the first camera appears to get completely fried, the second is blown up (some of the data might survive I suppose) and the final is left in a place unlikely for anyone to stumble upon.
They've presented it as just a movie but all the cameras used exist within in the film itself.

But enough of technicalities. I think this is the first film of this type I've really enjoyed, the film starts slow and quiet setting the stage for the main characters and then spends the rest of the film building at the perfect pace.

[Skgoa]

Saw it last night - best found footage movie ever made, period.

Have you seen Troll Hunter?

[Vympel]

No, but I've heard of it. Should probably give it a go.