Presented in the guise of found footage and filmed from a first person point of view with a handheld camera, it has some similar aspects to Cloverfield which is a film I am a big fan of. There has been a glut of found footage films recently which means they all tend to be compared to one another despite quite different content. This aspect and the recommendation of a friend who was quite keen to see it made me want to venture to the Printworks cinema (hideously expensive) to catch a screening.
The film follows three high school boys who find an underground cavern near a party they are at that has a weird glowing object that gives them supernatural powers. They can move objects by telepathy and suddenly begin to learn that they can fly as well. The scenes where they fly above the clouds and over cities are truly amazing from a visual point of view. Some of the other effects are very impressive near the end with whole buildings crushed and helicopters being made to fly out of control. An interesting skill was being able to telepathically move Pringles from the tube into his mouth, although the more impressive feat was fitting like half a dozen in his mouth simultaneously.
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| The three high school students discuss their new found powers |
The film centres around three main characters who gain the telepathic powers. Andrew (Dane DeHaan), Matt (Alex Russell who looks like a young Ashton Kutcher!) and Steve (Michael B.Jordan) who cover three of the main groups of people that tends to be in high school. Andrew being the shy loner, Matt being the quite popular but wishes he was more popular and Steve the very popular guy running for student president. Outside of this Andrew has a tough home life which gives a great insight in to why he is so shy and lacking in confidence. It certainly helps garner sympathy from the audience as to why he finally acts like he does when he believes he is alone and has no one he can trust.
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| Dane DeHaan as Andrew Detmer |
The initial excitement of their new found powers which they suddenly start to abuse as the film develops is to be expected and I think realistically comes too late. Anybody with these powers would instantly want to test them to the limit to see what is possible and what they could get away with. It's a nice thought that they would make rules as to what they can and can't do but realistically they are going to push these powers as far as they think morally possible in the pursuit of fame, money and girls.
The biggest worry for me was near the end I wasn't interested in what happened to Andrew. Obviously I won't spoil the ending but I was intrigued as to why the police and SWAT teams didn't try to shoot him at one opportunity when he was unable to defend himself. Despite his tough and lonely life I wasn't rooting for him at the end which is a big disappointment in a film.
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