Chronicle Review

After three teenagers find a mysterious hole in the ground after a party; they begin to notice that they have developed a set of superpowers. Initially the three of them use their new found powers for pranks. As they grow stronger, the three young men debate how to use their powers so they use a set of ground rules in order to get a better understanding of their powers. Personal relationships are tested when the three men are forced to embrace the dark side of their powers.

Set up to be a first person account of the story told through the camera of main character Andrew, Chronicle is very much a fancy camera trick piece as it as a dark and sophisticated drama. Establishing the flashy aerial shots and then taking to the skies to have them fly in and out of the clouds with such grace and speed gives Chronicle an added sense of realism. Flying high amongst the clouds, the blur of his friends off in the distant added a tension; there was always the sense of feeling. As they tip-toed above the city streets, there was this undeniable feeling that you felt as if you were the camera, you were the eyes watching their new found transformation take place. In essence Chronicle would be just another drama had it not been for the use of some of the best cinematography seen in a long time.

The downside to home-made like films is they tend to move from scene to scene without a transitional period. A black screen appears for a brief awkward moment, and then a whole new set is established. There is always a sudden jolt when the scenery is vastly different without explanation. The upside to home-made like films are they tend to make you feel a connection with the characters, mostly the one the camera focuses on the most, which in Chronicles case was Andrew. What Chronicle has going for itself is they let Andrew become the dark character as the film progressed.

Dane Dehaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan are amazing in their respective roles. Matt (Russell) and Steve (Jordan) begin to take a liking to a distant Andrew, and as they grow stronger Matt and Steve have a tough time keeping Andrew from having emotional outbursts. All three young men do a fantastic job of portraying their characters within this fast paced flick. When you try and keep things moving in a film of this nature, sometimes the little things are the ones that lose, but Chronicle had a fine balance of both.

The first solid flick of 2012, Chronicle proves the found footage idea that has been recycled through-out recent years still has new tricks up its sleeve. The trick is creating a sleek script that benefits from that type of storytelling. With a reported budget of 15 million and already having made 22 over just one weekend, it looks like Chronicle could be the next beneficiary of all the sequel talk, just like Cloverfield was when it premiered.



9/10