Chronicle

Too much power is a dangerous thing

English (U/A)
Cast: Dane DeHaan, Alex
Russell, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly
Direction: Josh Trank

Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan), the only child of an abusive father and a sick and bedridden mother, is different from other high school boys. The movie starts with him deciding to videotape his entire life for reasons unexplained. This habit of his irritates others in the movie as well as the viewers who have to bear with the slightly shaky handycam sequences throughout. The first half of the movie is light and fun with the three friends, Andrew, Matt (Alex Russell) and Steve (Michael B Jordan) discovering that they have mysterious superpowers. Lack of a proper scene where they discover the powers render the movie incomplete. Their power to mentally lift and move objects induces them to play small pranks with people around the neighbourhood. Their power to fly makes a game of rugby more enjoyable when the sky with floating clouds becomes their playground. Yes, these are things any teen with such powers would do. The trio makes a promise among themselves not to tell anyone about their powers and not to use it for evil deeds.

All is hunky-dory until Andrew starts using these powers for destruction, breaking the promise. His dark childhood brings out the bad guy in him and he uses his powers to take revenge on his dad and his schoolmates, who thought he was a dork.

Some scene transitions are not smooth but they can be excused because this the 26- year old director Josh Trank’s debut.

The violence in the second half makes you sick. There is an overdose of car smashing, glass shattering and ripping buildings. Good that the movie is short (83 min), although not too sweet.

‘With great power comes great responsibility’. Who cares? When you’re just a dull, abused teenager!