Plot : High school senior Andrew, is an outcast. He purchases a camera and lives behind it as an extension of himself. While filming everything he goes to a rave with his cousin and in the woods Andrew, his cousin, and his cousins best friend find a mysterious hole in the ground that contains a glowing rock. They are gifted with new telekinetic abilities and from there grow as friends and enemies.
Review : 2012 is here and with it comes more Found footage films, some bad and some good. How does this film stack up to the other 8000 found footage films? Well lets dive into this review and find out
So as I sat down in the theater to watch Paranormal Activity 3, I was greeted with a trailer for a new film Chronicle. It looked like a decent film. One that would show what happens when teenagers get powers and miss use them, and turning into a Superhero film where one became the villain. Predictable and amusing but forgettable. Boy was I wrong on this one. While the film's first half does follow my ideas about the teenagers misusing there powers for selfish needs, the second half does some different stuff.
Andrew is a senior in high school and isn't very well liked by anyone. He is picked on by everyone and has become an outcast. Even at home he is abused by his father while his mother is in critical condition by an unnamed disease. The movie starts with the fact that he has recently purchased a video camera to capture the daily activities of his life, thus starting the Found footage gimmick. He takes this camera everywhere and it becomes an extension of himself never parting with it, setting up that unsaid idea of false protection behind the lens. From here we are introduced to Andrews cousin who befriends him, taking him to a rave. After a misunderstanding Andrew leaves the party and meets Steve, his cousin Matt s best friend. From this point the film allows you to bond with these three characters, and watch them bond as friend while they experiment with the powers they found in a dark hole during the party. They slowly learn that they can control certain objects with their minds and proceed to mess with people in stores and in public. What starts as innocent fun, never hurting anyone slowly morphs into something far darker and sinister. Andrew uses his powers to force a vehicle off the road and nearly kills the driver. From there we see more of Andrew life showing him as an outcast from everyone but his friends and truly showing a teenage on the verge of a mental breakdown, which for someone with Andrews' special talents could be very bad. Without spoiling anything we all know well anyone who has seen the trailer know Andrew does snap leading to a very intense and tragic climax.
Lets call this film a very big surprise for me. I expected a fun ride but nothing special, what I got was that fun ride with a tragic story with some great unknown actors giving some fantastic performances. I thought the found footage genre was dried up of all the original ideas it had, I was wrong instead of a gimmick for the film it adds to the ideas of the film. Unlike most found footage films you can't watch it and say "why would they film this?" everything filmed fits and feels natural. They do some creative things near the end with different camera shots and switching perspectives.
With everything said it has a couple minor flaws. Its a very short film, running a mere 85 mins and at times it feels pretty edited. Nothing offensively edited but I can promise we will see a directors cut upon DVD release. The other flaw relies on the climax, it changes the tone of a mostly character driven film into a action film. Again its not a huge complaint.
Overall: I recommend it highly, it does flaws but not enough to drag down a fantastic film for the beginning of 2012. I await the aforementioned directors cut with glee
Recommend? YES
Chronicle is owned 20th Century Fox.
I am really looking forward to this film. Your review has given me hope that it would not be another missed opportunity. It should be released in a few weeks or so here.
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