Super powers get personal in this first-person origin tale as a trio of friends gain strange new abilities. Loner Andrew Detmer starts to film his life as a means of something to do, as well as an escape from his bed ridden mother and abusive father. Andrew's cousin, Matt Garetty wants to help him out and insists he takes a more normal approach to teenage life and drags him to a party at an abandoned warehouse. With his camera still rolling Andrew goes to the party but his social standings get him into a near confrontation and isolates him outside by himself. Popular High school student Steve Montgomery finds Andrew and drags him to a nearby crater explaining how they need the camera to record what they found. Matt stands by the mysterious crater excited and waiting, while Steve suggests they should check it out. The trio comes across a bizarre construct deep in the depths of the crater, humming with power the construct awakens and throws the group about before collapsing the crater in on itself. The next day with the truth of events still hazy, they discover the strange new powers they have and begin to realize that what they found and the effects it had on them would forever change their lives.
Dane DeHaan gives the film it's sympathetic and moody hero Andrew, with the events of the film circling round him and his own vision of the powers. A character that has to work on several different levels as the film progresses DeHaan shows his fresh talent and dynamic approach to really bring Andrew's sorrowful yet powerful characteristics to the screen. Alex Russell plays Matt, Andrew's cousin who acts as a joint central character in some ways and shines as an awkward yet optimistic teen who unlike Andrew is more socially excepted, Russell doesn't push the same degrees of character as the other cast but that's exactly how the character seems to fit into the story. Michael B. Jordan finishes the trio as Steve, who unlike the other central cast is a widely popular figure he befriends Andrew and Matt when he too is dragged into the mysterious crater. Jordan takes to the character with equal volumes of charisma and emotion creating a character that like Andrew's works on several different levels to make the trio a varied group of individuals who work well together and genuinely seem like best friends.
The story is shown constantly through a lens and as such is always in the moment, luckily with super powers dull moments aren't the norm. No real reason is shown as to what the powers are or how they developed but this adds to the enigma throwing away the 'why' and focusing on the aspects of what would a teen do if they were given superhuman abilities? Forget web slinging, these guys gain powers galore and with a constant build up of powers the film is always moving a long at a comfortable pace that makes you question what's around the corner. While the powers are the main draw the stories of the individual characters are also a big part of the developments especially with Andrew and his own woeful lifestyle. The film takes the documentary found footage style and throws up the mix, at times the CGI can appear amazing or awful depending on the scene but that's not what this film is about. This film is about taking an old concept and throwing in a dose of modern film making, style and super powered narrative which all adds up in the end product. The film gives a relatively fresh pic that is pretty much guaranteed to entertain any film goer on some level, while it's not perfect it is what it is, a first person insight into the world of teenage superpowers and who could possibly dislike that?
8 / 10
FIN.
Dane DeHaan gives the film it's sympathetic and moody hero Andrew, with the events of the film circling round him and his own vision of the powers. A character that has to work on several different levels as the film progresses DeHaan shows his fresh talent and dynamic approach to really bring Andrew's sorrowful yet powerful characteristics to the screen. Alex Russell plays Matt, Andrew's cousin who acts as a joint central character in some ways and shines as an awkward yet optimistic teen who unlike Andrew is more socially excepted, Russell doesn't push the same degrees of character as the other cast but that's exactly how the character seems to fit into the story. Michael B. Jordan finishes the trio as Steve, who unlike the other central cast is a widely popular figure he befriends Andrew and Matt when he too is dragged into the mysterious crater. Jordan takes to the character with equal volumes of charisma and emotion creating a character that like Andrew's works on several different levels to make the trio a varied group of individuals who work well together and genuinely seem like best friends.
The story is shown constantly through a lens and as such is always in the moment, luckily with super powers dull moments aren't the norm. No real reason is shown as to what the powers are or how they developed but this adds to the enigma throwing away the 'why' and focusing on the aspects of what would a teen do if they were given superhuman abilities? Forget web slinging, these guys gain powers galore and with a constant build up of powers the film is always moving a long at a comfortable pace that makes you question what's around the corner. While the powers are the main draw the stories of the individual characters are also a big part of the developments especially with Andrew and his own woeful lifestyle. The film takes the documentary found footage style and throws up the mix, at times the CGI can appear amazing or awful depending on the scene but that's not what this film is about. This film is about taking an old concept and throwing in a dose of modern film making, style and super powered narrative which all adds up in the end product. The film gives a relatively fresh pic that is pretty much guaranteed to entertain any film goer on some level, while it's not perfect it is what it is, a first person insight into the world of teenage superpowers and who could possibly dislike that?
8 / 10
FIN.
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