Chronicle review

Chronicle was marketed all wrong. This should come as no surprise. Most movies ARE marketed wrong, and even going back to my last review of the Grey I touched on various problems with marketing a movie that think's outside the box.

THIS movie was advertised as three douche bag teenagers gain superpowers and abuse their power. Hell, even the image above shows this statement to be true.

The truth is that this might be one of the best superhero movies EVER made. It's a story that equally tells the rise of a villain as it does the rise of a hero. It's a superhero/supervillain origin story. One that we haven't heard, and one that is very interesting.

The premise is fairly simple. Three High School kids find something alien underground, something happens and they are affected by it. They each gain the power of telekinesis (the ability to move matter with the mind) and as they become friends through their ordeal, they start to bond, learn from each other, and split apart all at the same time in ways that are both reflective of any teenage relationship and of those going through changes, especially through the lens of introduced power development.

The flick is great. And it is superbly well made. It amazes me how small of a budget this movie used. The special effects range from good to astounding and are used in such a prolific manner that it staggers you to think that big-budget movies are being made that are utter SHIT with just AS good if not WORSE special effects. Where is the money going? Again, it only helps to show how horrible at business the so-called studio-heads (self-proclaimed businessmen and women, I suppose) are at BUSINESS.

Sure, it's a "found-footage" flick, but there's a gimmick that they use to get around the shaky-cam. First off, the kid filming everything takes the footage extremely seriously, so when he's behind camera it isn't shaky at all. Once he gains powers, we find that he is the strongest of the three and he begins to levitate the camera around. This makes it easier for him to become part of the action, but also it makes the camera extremely more stable and fluid.

Here we come to the ONLY problem I can find with Chronicle. Why was it made as a found-footage film?

Seriously, this movie could have been twice as good if it hadn't relied on a gimmick that was old years ago. The finale' and action conflict really suffers from this style the most. They try to find interesting ways to show the fight sequence (i.e. traffic cameras, helicopter cameras, cell phone cameras, and even bank cameras), and while that's fascinating and awesome, the interest and focus should be on the characters and battle itself...this is why shooting the movie normally would've been so much better for the overall story.

Truly, Chronicle should've just been a stand-up superhero flick without the gimmick. Other than that, it was awesome.

This is coming from someone who wasn't even going to see the flick.



8 / 10