| Richard Detmer | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Full Name: |
Richard Detmer |
|
Aliases: |
Dad |
|
Age: |
50 |
|
Status: |
Alive |
|
Known Relatives: |
Karen Detmer (Wife) † |
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Hobbies: |
Drinking and beating up Andrew |
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Appearance: |
|
Richard talking to Andrew
Richard "Ricky" Detmer is the secondary antagonist of the 2012 film Chronicle.
He served as the main antagonist for first half of the film, until becoming the secondary antagonist of the second half.
He has been an alcoholic since he lost his job as a firefighter. He was a verbally and physically abusive father to Andrew, contributing to the latter's psychopathy. His wife had cancer and he seem to somewhat care for her. She is all he really loves. He shamelessly teases, beats, and abuses Andrew presumably out of alcohol-induced jealousy for his wife giving more love and attention towards Andrew than him.
When Andrew gets telekinetic powers, Richard tries to abuse Andrew out of jealousy for trying to independently find his own happiness by attending a Talent Show and a Party, to a point Richard calls Andrew a "loser." When Andrew snaps and insults him, Richard viciously attacks him until Andrew uses his powers to brutally overpower him, causing him a rare moment of fear.
Rather than showing respect for the super-powered Andrew, Richard became even more enraged, as now his son no longer feared him. When Andrew is suddenly in a hospital and Richard is called down, he says to his son that he spent all day looking for him (likely for revenge) and when he got home, his wife was dead.
Enraged by this, he selfishly and pathetically blames Andrew for her death and tried to hit Andrew while he was in bed, once again out of his warped jealousy of his son, but Andrew stopped the attack. He blew up the hospital room and held Richard upside down off the building, the abuser showing absolute fear of his son to the point of begging him to spare him. When an unhinged Andrew drops Richard without remorse, Matt saved Richard's life, his fate left ambiguous after this.
Trivia[]
- The filmmakers originally intended to have Andrew splay and tear his father's limbs like that spider, but they changed it for the PG-13 rating, and to showcase Matt's pacifistic nature.
- Even though he has very little screen time he can considered as the film's main antagonist mainly because of him abusing his own son is what causes the film’s conflict, and widely acts like the film’s most hated character as his role is too influential for overarching antagonist. He is even showered with hate comments on YouTube videos of the film that focuses on him, even though he's a character.
- Although Richard's final fate is unknown by the end of the film, it is shown that Matt obtained Andrew's camera and is shown filming in Tibet with it. It is possible that Matt looked through Andrew's camera and saw the abuse Richard inflicted on Andrew, and possibly turned it over to local authorities. If that was the case, it's possible that Richard was arrested by the police sometime after Matt's battle with Andrew and used the evidence provided by the camera to convict Richard. If that is the case, then by the time Matt went to Tibet with Andrew's camera, Richard had been convicted of child abuse. There were also cameras in the emergency room where Andrew was hospitalized, so Richard's abuse of Andrew would have been exposed anyway. Whatever the case, he now has to live with the fact that he has lost his wife and son and eventually he would be forced to learn the fact that he could not blame no one but himself.
- And not only that, but also people would make his life miserable since all the actions that Andrew did with his powers were seen in the public eye, they would dox and harass him for having raised and been the father of a supervillain (similar to school-shooters or spree-terrorists). So, either way, he would be exposed no matter what, and spend the rest of his wretched life in prison.
- Viewers of the film wonder if the actor who plays Richard, Michael Kelly, also resents the character, despises every second of playing him, and can't imagine doing that to his own children.