I'm going to review the movie since I didn't when it came out (if I had already reviewed it, I'd go ahead with just the Blu Ray itself). I'll go ahead with the features. There are none. I know the Paranormal Activity series does this so it adds to the mystique of the found footage feel of the movie, but seriously? No features. Not a trailer, or a making of or anything. This is Blu Ray and since it just came out, I got it for a DVD price. I didn't look at the back of the packaging because I wanted the movie and just assumed it had some features on it, but it doesn't. At least not the version I got (I looked around and the only features I found were Region 1 coding... is that even a feature?). It disappoints me, because I like the movie enough, that I wanted to listen to commentary and watch the making of and all of the fun things that normally go along with Blu Rays, but alas.
With that out of the way, how was the movie? It's pretty boss. The movie's plot centers around Andrew, who is an outcast that has a pretty sh!tty life. His mom is dying and his injured laid off dad is physically abusive and a drunk. He gets a camera to document his father's behavior. This is how the concept of this certain found footage concept works (if you don't know what that means, it's like Blair Witch or Cloverfield where everything that happens in the movie is filmed on a camera in continuity, instead of the camera not being in world that the character's exist in). Everything is either on Andrew's camera or the many other cameras that show up in the movie. I guess you're led to believe that someone at some point put all of this footage together, but given that two of the cameras are either buried or left in a very remote place, I think that concept is unlikely. It's possible and if they did a sequel, they could start out with someone finding the two unlikely cameras to make the documentary that is Chronicle, but I don't really think that's going to happen.
So Andrew's cousin, Matt, and his friend, the ever so popular Steve, find this odd object underground that gives them telekinetic powers. As the movie progresses, they become more powerful and the characters change due to gaining their power.
SPOILERS START HERE
Given that Andrew is sort of like a Peter Parker character at the beginning, you think that he might become a hero, but the amount of real world problems really sells his decent into hate and madness. His problems range from bullying (which seems to be getting a lot of attention in the real world lately) to his father beating the crap out of him to finally his mother dying. This is gradual at first then all of the dominos come down near the end. Matt who is kind of a pretentious jerk at the beginning realizes the responsibility he has and has to face Andrew (who is calling himself Apex Predator) in a final showdown that is just a great action sequence in itself.
The whole issue with Andrew hit close to home for me. I was bullied in high school. A lot of the time it was constant for 80% of my classes. It wears on you, and even starts to affect your mind and who you are. I had thoughts of doing some of the things that Andrew does. You root for him in some instances and then you see how sadistic he starts to be. Coming up with better tactics for how to rip teeth out or philosophizing about how he is better than normal humans... that killing them is like swatting a fly. He stops resembling a bullied kid's revenge fantasy and starts becoming a really horrible person. It's still easy to identify with him and that maybe if the circumstances were slightly different you could reach him, which makes the ending even more tragic. He feels bad for what happens to Steve in the last half of the movie, even if he doesn't show it to anyone else. Once he is in the explosion that happens during the botched robbery; he's disfigured and in a lot of pain. He completely loses it, and he was scary before that happened.
Matt, to me, is still identifiable, due to his awkwardness around the girl he likes. When I was single a millenia ago, I was the same way. Matt's sense of responsibility with his powers reflects the route I would go if I were granted those abilities, so I find his journey interesting as well. This includes the decision he has to make in the end.
SPOILERS END HERE
The movie brings up a ton of morality issues. You feel for the characters and the set up is interesting. Typically with these movies you have a set up, but it takes a long time and you don't care that much for what's happening to the characters. This is supposed to reflect real life (PA series does this in every installment), but it doesn't tell a well balanced story. In the end the movie is great, but the Blu Ray is lacking.
9 out of 10 telekinetic teeth pulls for the movie
1 out of 10 for the Blu Ray features
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