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Chronicle couldn't have come at a worse time, with Hollywood dumping a new "found footage" movie into multiplexes on a weekly basis(it certainly feels that way), this gimmick is so overused that I've grown tired of it. Fortunately though, with Chronicle there's some hope left in this genre. It's nice to see a found footage movie that doesn't feature demons or spirits haunting a family or a group of people. It puts a nice spin on the genre and that's only one of the many reasons to see this movie.
I really didn't have any problems with this movie at all, the only thing that bothered me was that this was made on a budget of twelve million. It looks like it was made on a budget of about ten dollars. The effects aren't horrendous, but it looks really fake, especially the flying. Other than that, this movie gets everything else right.
Could this film have worked without the first-person style? Maybe. However, for some reason it works well here and fits with the movie. There's not a lot of shaking so those of you prone to the usual symptoms, headaches, nausea, need not to worry. I will admit though, the characters film things but it's never fully explains it which makes this come off as a little awkward. By the end though, I was loving this movie so much that I didn't really care. The director does a nice job in getting us immersed in the action by literally putting us in the middle of it. Especially during the climax where there are ipods, iphones, ipads, and digital cameras floating all around, really bringing us into the chaos.
One thing that most found footage movies lack is a strong script, which Chronicle has. I guess that's because found footage is mostly used within the horror genre, which usually has stupid people doing stupid things that normal people would never do. Each character here gets sufficient screen time, there's Andrew(Dane Dehann) a shy, lonely kid, who's only friend happens to be his cousin Matt(Alex Russell) who hangs out with the popular crow and enjoys philosophy, and Matt's friend Steve(Michael B. Jordan) who everyone likes and is accomplished both in and out of school. These aren't fleshed out three dimensional characters but they're much more than cardboard cut outs or props.
Nothing ruins a found footage movie more than casting familiar faces. It ruins the experience and makes it feel less real. That is not the case here. With the exception of Michael Kelly, I don't recognize anyone. The three main characters mostly have TV credits under their belts with this being their first mainstream motion picture. I'm surprised at how good the performances were from these three and they should have nice futures ahead of them. The rest of the cast did a nice job as well.
The story is pretty much your typical origin story, except it's with real people. There are enough fresh twists and ideas though, which sets above most origin superhero movies. I'd rather take more superhero movies like chronicle than the overproduced, over budgeted crap that we have to deal with on a yearly basis(most recent examples: Green Lantern and Ghost rider 2).
Overall, this is a great edition to the found footage genre. Whatever hope left for the genre was diminished thanks to The Devil Inside but, Chronicle restores some of my faith. This movie does arrive at an unfortunate time but, don't let that stop you from seeing this movie. It injects some freshness in this genre, which is just what it needs as it has been slowly dying(creatively) over the past couple of years. I hope there are more movies like Chronicle in the future. This isn't the best movie of 2012 so far, but it's certainly at the top.
