The superhero movie is always something that I’ve always found to be incomplete. They remind me far more of mythology than anything that could be seen as remotely realistic but don’t get me wrong that’s not a bad thing. I do however believe that a realistic superpower sci-fi is something that had never really been done. Or I never have seen it done.  But let’s get to the movie at hand shall we? Chronicle struck me as just another entry in the “found footage” genre that I have really never been a fan of. It just never really had an entry that struck me as that amazing. However, Chronicle really did hit the ball right out of the park. Let me explain.

So the story starts out by following the life of a kid named Andrew. Going with the whole found footage angle, he decides to start filming his life and we see his life through the camera. He’s an exile from school life, his dad’s a drunkard, his mom’s incredibly sick and he really only has one friend, his cousin. From here he ends up going to a party where his cousin and a friend of his, a kid running for student body president, find a giant hole in the ground. They drag Andrew and his camera over and go inside the hole where they find god know’s what which knocks out the camera and it cuts to the next day. From here shenanigans ensue and things start going absolutely crazy.

The plot is extremely simple but easily one of the best things I have seen at the theaters in years. The plot takes so many twists and turns that it’s actually far less predictable than one would imagine. Sure there is one of them that takes things too far as one might expect, but honestly it makes sense. Each one of the three are very well developed and interesting characters that act like real high school kids. There is no sense of that Hollywood or comic book cheesiness that does seem to hinder the modern sci-fi superhero craze. This is completely gritty real and outright brutal.

One thing I usually don’t mention but I feel must be mentioned to give this a complete review is the cinematography. The “found footage” idea worked wonders here, for once. Andrew decides in the beginning to start to film his life for the sake of…well for the sake of why not? From here it actually gets a little more intriguing. The movie uses a very nice workaround, as the boys gain telekinesis, the camera just floats. Not only that, but they work it into the plot as Andrew actually ends up having the most finesse with his skills so the telekinetically floating camera can actually be seen as a plot point, rather than just being something to work into. The movie later on also ends up bringing in security camera footage, helicopter cameras, iphone cameras, etc., etc. etc. Once again, each of which is a plot point. This works into the plot so well that I just have to mention it to give the filmmakers credit.

As far as things go, this movie is just absolutely amazing. The characters are intriguing and given depth, the plot is complex while still being easy to identify with, the shots are well done and easily manage to give the movie an extremely unique feel. Also, might I just say that I do find watching Seattle (a local I am rather familiar with) getting wrecked to hit home. Let me just state ahead of time, the ending scene involves the Space Needle and anyone from Western Washington that knows Seattle would likely be freaking out. This movie is easily one of the best films of 2012 and is probably number 10 on my favorite films of all time. I am not even kidding. Go see this. An easy 5 out of 5.