Unless you've been living under the proverbial rock somewhere, you are aware of the cinematic juggernaut that is The Avengers. One of the most anticipated films in years has finally hit the big screen after being set-up by a few other films, namely Iron Man 1 & 2, Thor, and Captain America, as well as The Incredible Hulk. Being a comic book nerd, I was REALLY looking forward to this one, not because any of these guys are my favorite super-hero (that distinction belongs to one Frank Castle), but because I had the feeling that this was being done RIGHT. Marvel and Disney released each of the above movies with teases here and there about the team coming together to battle a global threat, without revealing too much over-all. And I needed a Marvel team movie that would cleanse my palate after what I felt were three horrible X-Men movies. It's OK, gripe if you will, but until Marvel gets the rights to those characters back, they have seen no justice, but that's a story for another time.
Written and directed by Joss Whedon, the Geek God who brought you Buffy, The Vampire Slayer (the series, not the mediocre movie with Luke Perry and Kristy Swanson) and the much-loved but short-lived Firefly, The Avengers brings together all the superheroes from their respective movies to focus on a threat to the planet lead by the main villain from Thor, his adopted brother Loki (Tom Huddleston), who apparently is under orders from a shadowy alien-type inter-dimensional fellow, who is only referred to as "The Other". But before the gang can protect the Earth, they have to learn to work together to become Earth's Mightiest Heroes, which is much easier said than done. You've got a super-soldier still trying to come to terms with the fact that everything he knew or loved is pretty much gone since he's been asleep for 70 years, a narcissistic billionaire playboy, a pair of government super assassins, a demi-god who is sworn to protect the Earth no matter who or what gets in his way, and The Hulk (no description necessary).
Pictured: Not The Hulk
At first glance I had a similar fear that many of us shared, that this was going to be The Iron Man Show, featuring The Avengers, as Tony Stark/Iron Man played by Robert Downey Jr. is arguably the most popular of the characters, and while he does get a good amount of the screen time, he is nowhere near the center stage of this 2 1/2 hour epic. Most of the character development was handled for each character in their respective films, with the exceptions being Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) who was introduced in Iron Man 2, and Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) who was teased briefly in Thor. While more is introduced about these characters and their back-stories, as well as their connected histories, the film overall is more about the big four: Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and the aforementioned Iron Man. These four actors work well off of each other, and share the scenes equally, with no character upstaging any other. The greatest actor in the film, however, is the CGI Hulk, who easily steals the show and has some of the best scenes in the film. He is, of course, the brute force who is capable of causing great destruction (and does), but also has much of the comic relief that is interjected at all the right times. You're used to Stark/Iron Man spitting one-liners, and you get that, too, but Hulk is surprisingly good for laughs, as well. And I want to put this out there, if Marvel is listening: Thor and Hulk would be great for an Odd Couple remake, just sayin'.
Cut me some slack, I don't have Photoshop.
And now here's where I had a problem with the movie. First off, I think they treated Hawkeye like a chump. He gets little screen-time, and the time he does get doesn't help his case, at all. When it comes to the action, he seems like the odd man out, he can't fly, is not super-strong, or super at all. He's really bad-ass with a bow-and-arrow. It's a great bow-and-arrow, and he can most definitely kick my ass with it, but even in the comics, the character seems like a B-Team kind of guy. At least he didn't bring his lame-ass costume from the comics along. Secondly, I'm a comic purist. I really like it when a comic licensed movie sticks pretty close (or close enough, Cowboys and Aliens) to it's source material, but in this case I cry foul. Nick Fury is not a black guy. For the longest time, since his creation in fact, Fury was an older, white gentleman with fabulous hair and was once even played by someone with hair just as magnificent: David Hasslehoff. When Marvel re-booted several of its characters and story-lines, set in an alternate universe, Fury was made a black guy by the writers and artists because they really, REALLY liked Sam Jackson. Conspiracy theorists might speculate this was done as a way for Jackson to eventually play the character in a movie, but I wasn't there and I'm not a bat-shit conspiracy theorist. I don't care what they did with the character in the comics, but it does touch on a continuity issue if you use a character from one universe in another that you're making a film of. Basically, if we're watching a movie that has the Marvel Ultimates version of Fury, do we assume that the rest of the characters are their respective Ultimates versions too? Because they aren't, but that isn't a discussion for a movie review. My point is that Nick Fury should have been a white guy from the start. So despite my fan-boy rantings, and these two issues I've just discussed, this film was quite a good time. I took in the 3D experience, despite warnings from friends, but I had no problem with it. The action was fast paced, the exposition and monologues delivered, and all the actors hit their marks. I look forward to the next slate of movies from Marvel/Disney as they set up Avengers 2, and where the Marvel Cinematic Universe goes from here as a whole, with new characters on the horizon, and not necessarily all of them being Avengers related.
Despite the fact that it seems about every one in five movies that are released lately fall in to the "found footage" genre, that particular style of film-making shows no signs of ebbing in its popularity. Most people were introduced to this style of film with The Blair Witch Project in 1999, with many movie-goers leaving the theatre not entirely convinced that it was just a film. I remember having to console a co-worker, who was literally in tears because she believed that something had happened to those poor kids. This was not the first use of the genre, however, that distinction may belong to the 1980 film Cannibal Holocaust, which showcased an ill-fated expedition to the Amazon. That particular film was convincing enough to have had the director arrested on obscenity charges, and was widely believed (at the time) to be an actual snuff film, and is stilled banned in some countries to this day. This style of film is generally reserved for the horror genre of film-making: in order to be "found footage", it means the people filming are either missing or dead, with those events playing out before the cameras, and the resulting footage having been discovered by family members, law enforcement, etc. This time, however, we get a science fiction take on the style with Chronicle.
The film opens with teenager Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan, True Blood, Amigo) setting up a recently acquired video camera to document the goings-on in his life, namely the actions of his drunk father, Richard (Michael Kelly, Dawn of the Dead, Law Abiding Citizen) and his cancer-ridden mother. Andrew's cousin, Matt Garretty (Alex Russell, Almost Kings, Wasted On The Young) picks him up for school, and they have typical teenage banter while driving and it becomes apparent once they arrive at school that Andrew is not quite the popular kid that his cousin is. In an attempt to help him break out of his shell and hopefully to increase his popularity, Matt invites Andrew to a rave, but tells him it would probably be better for him to leave his camera at home. Andrew, of course, does not, and after a few scenes at the rave, Andrew angers a party-goer by inadvertently filming the guy's girlfriend, who then attacks him. Despondent, Andrew leaves the rave to wait for his cousin, when he is approached by the school's star quarterback and most popular student, Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan, Hardball, Red Tails), who tells him to come with him and film something that he and Matt have discovered in the ground. Steve leads them to a hole which is emitting a loud and strange noise.
No, not that hole.
After a few moments observing the hole, Steve impulsively goes in, with Matt following quickly behind. After a few moments of hesitation, Andrew joins them. They eventually come upon a large, glowing, blue, crystalline object that has weird effects on the physics of the area, namely drawing the sweat straight off of Steve's face. As Andrew films, the object begins to glow red, and the trio are struck by nosebleeds and pain. There is a bright flash, and the camera cuts out. It then jumps to a few weeks later, with Andrew having a new camera, and the group sitting around and filming what appear to be new found telekinetic abilities, but also garnering nosebleeds if they over-exert themselves. It becomes apparent very quickly that Andrew has much better control over these new abilities than the other two do. They decide to re-visit the hole in the ground, but upon arrival discover that is has collapsed and the Sheriff's Department is sealing off the area to prevent further danger. As their abilities continue to grow stronger, Matt theorizes that the abilities are like a muscle that continue to grow in strength the more they use them.
Like this, but with the MIND...
Soon after, the boys are riding down the road, when a truck comes speeding up behind them, honking and being a general jerk when Andrew decides to teach him a lesson. He uses his abilities to push the truck off of the road, and down into a water-filled ravine. Horrified, the boys swing in to action, and save the driver, although he is severely injured. Matt understandably freaks out and sets in place a list of rules about their abilities, namely not using them on ANY living thing. They agree, and try to move past the incident, all the while their abilities continue to grow in different areas: impervious skin, heightened strength, and the crowning jewel of super-abilities, flight. Andrew expresses an interest for them to fly around the world after graduation, and wanting to go to Tibet because of its peaceful nature. There may be hope for this kid yet, since it looked like he was headed down a bad path that culminated with the wrecking of the truck and its driver. But that's all I can really go in to here, from this point on things begin to ramp up, as the boys have to start to learn about dealing with the morality of having great power, which would be a hard task at any age, let alone for teenagers who also have to deal with the high school society and hierarchy of cliques and class distinction. As far as the "found footage" style goes, one of the most common complaints I've heard is this: "When things start to go to pieces and all hell is breaking loose, why do they keep filming? Why don't they just drop the cameras and worry about saving their asses as opposed to saving the moment for posterity?" This film manages to answer that question, and quite easily, and also provides a way for there to be multiple camera angles and quick cuts while keeping it plausible, at least for a psuedo-superhero movie anyway, where you're required to have at least already suspended some disbelief. The actors also seem very credible in their roles, you have to ramp up your acting skills to portray someone who isn't supposed to be acting at all, at least in my opinion, which is why Blair Witch worked so well for me, those kids were lost some of the time, there were genuine fights on film, but in the end they were still actors and so it was a very real feel. The boys in Chronicle I got a real feel for, because they approached their abilities the same way I would have in high school, as well as the aftermath of when the protagonists and antagonists are established, and things come to a head. This film is definitely a breath of fresh air in the "found footage" genre, and I hope that no one takes a dump on it, like Blair Witch 2 did to its predecessor. This is a definite must see for comic book and super-hero fans, (even though it isn't based on an actual comic book), but you don't have to be a fan of those to enjoy this movie, by any means.
