Introduction: This movie is f*cking awesome. It's a perfect blend of found-footage and superhero films that can be exhilarating, hysterical, dark, honest, and reminiscent of those anime cartoons you'd watch as a child after school. It pulls inspiration from Dragonball Z, Akira, Carrie, X-Men, and Superman and thanks to telekinesis the hand held camera switches between first and third person beautifully giving you those close emotional moments and also those big action driven moments. If this doesn't change how people direct found footage movies I don't know what will...
Magneto: Andrew is a boy who has been abused for most of his life both emotionally and physically inside and outside his home. He decides to videotape the current events of his life almost like he is trying to keep some kind of proof of his abuse in case something bad happens to him. You get a sense of this when the film opens with Andrew telling his father to leave him alone because he is filming everything. Children who are abused by their parents tend to act aggressively towards others as a means to deal with his issues. This is portrayed perfectly with Andrew as he acts very coldly to any and every person he knows, except for his dying mother. After gaining telekinetic powers Andrew becomes good friends with his cousin and fellow classmate Steve. This feels kinda weird since Andrew lost his camera because of those idiots, but maybe he is trying to reach out to them since he never has had a real friend. As the film progresses Andrew continues to get abused and decides that enough is enough and he uses his powers to fight back, giving up on his friends and finally getting what he has always wanted; justice. Sadly, Andrew gets caught in an explosion and finds out later that his mother has died. In a fit of emotion and rage Andrew begins to attack anyone who threatens him in a state of superiority. He is then killed by his best friend and cousin in order to stop his rampage. The film ends with his camera being placed in Tibet, a place of peace and quiet that he has always wanted to go to.
Xavier: Andrew's cousin, Matt, considers himself an intellectual and as someone who is above others in intellect. Kind of how like Andrew feels at the end. After gaining telekinetic powers Matt becomes best friends with overachiever Steve and loner extraordinar Andrew, becoming a sort of middle ground character who learns a lot from both of these guys. You get a strong sense of this when Steve and Andrew try and teach Matt how to fly. Hell, Andrew saves Steve from an airliner jet thusly showing Matt a sense of heroism. He even starts filming stuff with Andrew's camera at the end. After Andrew breaks out of the hospital in his fit of rage Matt tries to calm him down and express how they were once friends and how much Andrew has taught him, but Andrew doesn't listen and leaves Matt with only one option; he impales Andrew with a spear and flies off with camera placing it in Tibet respecting Andrew's last wish as his friend.
Cool Black Guy (aka Guess Who Dies First): Steve is a guy who enjoys having fun but also dreams of becoming a person of high authority. He is an average teenager who has motivations of becoming President and when he hears about Andrew's abuse you can tell he really cares about him. He reaches out to him and makes him feel good whenever he succeeds in something. Commending him on his telekinetic expertise. At some point Andrew gets really f*cking pissed and flies into the middle of a lightning storm. It's hinted that Andrew is the cause of this storm but it's never made clear. In his uncontrollable rage Steve gets struck by lightning leaving Matt and Andrew with no connector between the two to make them better.
Conclusion: I f*cking love this movie. It has some problems but it's so well done you can't help but get scared that Batman 3 and the Avengers won't be as good. The first half of this film is so realistic and fun you forget you're watching a superhero movie that by the time the second half comes along you are heavily invested in the characters and care about their well being in the various action scenes that range from a grocery store robbery to getting his by a flying f*cking truck. Though the end you wonder who the f*ck put all this found footage together. Especially since the camera was left in Tibet. Hell, their is a scene where Andrew telekinetically takes numerous camera phone just so you can have a better shot of the action. Overall, a great film about average people with superpowers, which is what superhero movies need to be about; people.
