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Spoilerific Trailer here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-M5Qx57_UU)
Release Date: February 3, 2012
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Dane Dehaan, Alex Russell
Directed by: Josh Trank
Premise: Three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to their developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, and their darker sides begin to take over.
Shit looks pretty cool, but who is falling for the fake documentary gimmick anymore? What is this, 1999?
Disregarding the found footage gimmick and the set-in-Seattle-shot-in-British-Columbia factor, this seems to have the potential to be something special. It looks like what I imagined Heroes could have been like before I actually watched Heroes.
It also seems to make the necessity of an American remake of Akira an even mooter point than before.
Man i'll fucking watch anything with Michael Jordan in it. Believe that.
Looks cool. You were right about the spoilers, the trailer almost comes off as desperate. Any guess as to what it's going to be rated? Hope it's above PG but I have a feeling that is exactly where this one is going to fall.
Neither IMDB nor Wikipedia list a rating for it yet, but I would put my money on a PG-13. It certainly doesn't look like it's trying to be a kids' movie.
Has anybody else seen this yet? Because it's pretty great. The found footage conceit gets a little mannered at times, but it's a strong character-based action movie, and oddly one of the more realistic portrayals of the high school experience that I've seen in a film.
Quote from: polkablues on March 09, 2012, 02:07:08 AM
Has anybody else seen this yet? Because it's pretty great. The found footage conceit gets a little mannered at times, but it's a strong character-based action movie, and oddly one of the more realistic portrayals of the high school experience that I've seen in a film.
Oh yeah... I saw this opening weekend and just never posted about it.
I really did like it. It made me a little upset that it could have been SOOOOOO much better if they had dropped the found footage element. I think they just took the "Realistic" part of 'Realistic Super Hero Movie" the wrong way.
Still, it was a really good approach to a classic super-hero story. I'll be keeping an eye on this Trank guy.
I thought this was rather awful. Teenage fantasy storyline taking itself quite seriously, presented in a visual language its target audience is supposed to relate to. It's like fucking Nightbreed or something, but for the ipad generation.
haha ^ first negative review I've read. I'm expecting it to be more bad than good, curious to see which quality outweighs the other..
If literally every review you've seen has been positive, save one, why would you assume the movie's more bad than good?
Based on my first impression from the trailer, the CGI seems too distracting for it to be a successful found footage film. It seems to be coming off the wave of Paranormal Activity's box office draw and that bothers me. I don't think I'm the target demographic for this film, but based on what you guys have said, it must have a good story and the found footage aspect is the weakest part. I just wonder if the story can be good enough to detract from that other, shitty element.
The CGI is actually largely inoffensive, at least to my eye. As far as the found footage angle, it's not the camerawork or the aesthetic itself that's a problem, but how far they have to bend over backward to justify it at points. Even so, I was engrossed in the film throughout. I like the fact that it took itself seriously; it's not a winking, self-aware movie, and it's stronger for it. Not to say it's a perfect film, but I found that the stuff that worked made it easy to shrug off the stuff that didn't.
I thought this was a very good feature film debut for writer Max Landis and director Max Trank.
SPOILERS
I've always wished someone would make a movie that would realistically explore the idea of ordinary people suddenly endowed with superpowers and the limitless possibilities this would present. The first 45 minutes of this film held such promise. I thought the way this movie dealt with the character's discovering their new abilities was skillful and fun to watch.
Then this movie reaches a crossroads where it must decide whether it wants to be a movie about big ideas or a popcorn flick.
The big idea--essentially, three gods walking the Earth. How do they interact with humanity? How does humanity interact with them? Would they be worshiped? Would they have competing religions based around each one? And how do they interact with one another? And on, and on, and on.
Unfortunately, these questions are academic, because they went the popcorn route. Kill off one of the supers, just to make things neat and tidy for the big cliched one-on-one hyper-destructive superhero battle in the big city between two two supers. This was uninteresting to me. I've seen it before so many times, and done so much better. We all have.
Which leads me to the found footage device utilized by this film. Everyone cringed when they heard this film incorporated this cliche. Initially it's pretty believable and unobtrusive, but I soon found the movie contorting itself in ridiculous ways to stay faithful to this device. Particularly in the end where we watch much of the climax via security cameras and iPhone footage for no other reason that to maintain this found footage device. The actual result of all this was, emotionally, to totally remove myself from what I was watching. Suddenly it's the 11 o'clock news.
I think the found footage thing was a mistake. I understand the closeness and intimacy one can achieve with this device, but you could probably go farther with a faux dogme 95 scheme. Keep it raw and up close with people doing doing unreal things and make it seem like it was done with shitty amateur video, etc..
Still, even if done right, the directing could't have saved the third act. It's simply a regurgitated superhero fight disaster movie. It could have been so much more.
You should see unbreakable if that's what you've always wanted.
I thought it was my favorite popcorn movie of the year. As I've mentioned before, I'm a huge akira fan (both film and manga) and I thought they did a good job telling a similar story, albeit much smaller scale and not going as deep into the sociopathy of power, superiority, and mild omnipotence. Akira is much grittier and exposes perversion (especially in the manga) whereas this is somewhere in the middle, kinda like if the Friday Night Lights people were behind the production of the Japanese classic (I admit I feel this way aided by the fact Michael B. Jordan is in it).
***SPOILS***
One prime example where this film, while doing a good job, overstates when Akira would be more restrained was when the father visits the antagonist in the hospital. As i was watching I was playing out the rest of the scene in my head. What i really wanted was the father to start crying and saying his "I'm sorry" speech, the boy would still be in the coma and suddenly the father blasts out of the window, through some type of unconscious telekinetic power within the boy to his inevitable death. Maybe then the boy could have opened his eyes, waking up, and feeling a sense of release from killing his father. This way it would show how far gone the character is, and would support the ending; understanding the only way to stop the boy is by killing him. He would have a too little too late approach to his father because he kills him after admission of guilt.
I know the point of the scene is to show even though the boy has these immense powers he is still afraid of his father. but the way i describe what i wanted shows the sickness of that character better. sadly the safer way to do that is have the father suddenly turn his emotion and blame the boy, and the boy wakes up and a dramatic scene ensues. It makes the character less drunk and sociopathic on the power.
I have a strong suspicion Otomo would have done it similar to the sensibilities I mentioned.
I don't think this film will be a classic, but I enjoyed it a lot.
i'm really late in the game on this but when i first heard of it i was turned off by the found footage and i probably needed a year to forget the trailer which is extremely spoilerful.. avoid that at all costs.
this movie is superb. everyone keeps mentioning akira but watching it i kept having strange memories of An American Werewolf in London. that's one of my favourite films of all time, but really.. i think there's a strong connection between the films, as far as "supernatural" elements being filtered through dark human behaviour. insecurity and fear of the self is what drives both films, delusion ---->
----> quick aside on this topic of delusion, because in AAWiL it's quite plausible (in fact the only real explanation) that the transformation wasn't real and to put it simply he was really just insane, in this film SPOILERS you get the delusion occurring on a higher level, where he says he is the "apex predator" that is obviously his own insanity set against the in-film reality of actually having superpowers. END SPOILERS in AAWiL the contrast occurs against the dude having this realisation of the dark side of the human condition: paranoia, sexual frustration and even the goddamn Nazis trigger his mutations.
so i figured whoever wrote this had a real good insight into AAWIL.. then to my astonishment, and i swear i did not know this because there were no credits at the start of the film, my theory was proven correct when it turned out the film was written by THE SON OF JOHN LANDIS. i was kinda disappointed, i thought a bunch of nobodies made this. not some rich ass kid making me feel bad about my lack of connections in the biz.
still, it's quite impressive and i will recommend this to everyone. it's the most underrated movie since Attack The Block, which was pretty much flawless, and also reminded me of that werewolf in london.
frankenstein is next. that's the next max landis screenplay. not based on the book, based on everything that's come after. max is very friendly and outgoing
Max Landis Says 'Chronicle 2' Would Have Been Called 'Martyr,' Spills Plot Details
Source: Playlist
Writer Max Landis has never failed in being a wellspring of ideas, whether on his rapid-fire Twitter feed or on-camera describing Superman's values. But the most-lobbied amount of hints—and now musings on missed potential—rests with "Chronicle 2," the sequel to Josh Trank's Landis-penned superhero hit. For some time, rumors flew that 20th Century Fox weren't pleased with the young screenwriter's vision, now leading to the fact that they're moving on without him, but that news hasn't stopped Landis from discussing what could've been.
In a frank and informative explanation divided up on Twitter (and collected by Bleeding Cool), Landis took the opportunity to explain the direction of his "Chronicle 2" script, entitled "Martyr," but admitted that fans of the first film might not have been "ready or eager for my second installment as originally written." He wrote of his draft: "Gone was the aspirational 'what would you do,' gone were the pranks and bromance, gone were lovely tragic Andrew and hopeful, bright Steve" (played by Dane DeHaan and Michael B. Jordan, respectively, both deceased by the end of the film).
"In their place was a dark, frustratingly unblinking stare into a complicated world that posed the question is it worth it to be a hero, told from the point of view of a heartbroken and insane woman who would martyr herself to the cause of being the world's first villain," he continued. A logical guess might place this unhinged woman as the protagonist and heart of the film—creating what Landis says to be "a different genre of movie than the first;" this point, if true, might provide a clue as to Fox's objections about the script's tone and material.
Surprisingly, Landis also envisioned making his found footage superhero universe culminate in an "Avengers-type team up," and claims "the most frustrating thing is that I don't know if I'll get the opportunity to explain what MOGO was or what he was doing in that cave." But knowing Landis (who's currently shooting his directorial debut, "Me Him Her") and his rate of output, it's a good bet more details on "Martyr" are forthcoming—even as they're separated from Fox's direction with the would-be franchise.
Quote from: Pubrick on August 12, 2013, 10:58:10 AM
i'm really late in the game on this but when i first heard of it i was turned off by the found footage and i probably needed a year to forget the trailer which is extremely spoilerful.. avoid that at all costs.
this movie is superb. everyone keeps mentioning akira but watching it i kept having strange memories of An American Werewolf in London. that's one of my favourite films of all time, but really.. i think there's a strong connection between the films, as far as "supernatural" elements being filtered through dark human behaviour. insecurity and fear of the self is what drives both films, delusion ---->
----> quick aside on this topic of delusion, because in AAWiL it's quite plausible (in fact the only real explanation) that the transformation wasn't real and to put it simply he was really just insane, in this film SPOILERS you get the delusion occurring on a higher level, where he says he is the "apex predator" that is obviously his own insanity set against the in-film reality of actually having superpowers. END SPOILERS in AAWiL the contrast occurs against the dude having this realisation of the dark side of the human condition: paranoia, sexual frustration and even the goddamn Nazis trigger his mutations.
so i figured whoever wrote this had a real good insight into AAWIL.. then to my astonishment, and i swear i did not know this because there were no credits at the start of the film, my theory was proven correct when it turned out the film was written by THE SON OF JOHN LANDIS. i was kinda disappointed, i thought a bunch of nobodies made this. not some rich ass kid making me feel bad about my lack of connections in the biz.
still, it's quite impressive and i will recommend this to everyone. it's the most underrated movie since Attack The Block, which was pretty much flawless, and also reminded me of that werewolf in london.
But don't you agree that the third act degenerated into a low-budget version of the old superhero battle cliche? One we've seen so many times before, but done better( the latest version being The Man Of Steel). The story, interesting up til then, could have went to more interesting places, but didn't. It actually became quite boring, IMO.