REVIEW: Chronicle

 There are no spoilers in this review.

PLOT: Three high school friends gain superpowers after making an incredible discovery.


THE GOOD: Concept. Chronicle uses the found footage genre of filmmaking, which is nothing new to the medium. But throwing a superhero subgenre into the mix adds a whole new level of reality and accessibility that prior films never had. The majority of found footage films have been horror movies, and for good reason. The found footage element adds a sense of realism for the movie goer, hence heightening the intensity of scary moments. Think about films like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, and the more recent TrollHunter. Well, take away the supernatural elements of those films and add in the super power element. Suddenly I can believe that these three teenage boys have telekinesis, strong skin, and the ability of flight. The story of Chronicle was thought up by screenwriter Max Landis and director Josh Trank who previously had not done much more than some short films and TV shows. The script made it on the 2010 Black List and it's clear why this movie would be a producer's dream.

This movie is very realistic because if I gained super powers all of a sudden, I would play Cut the Rope on my iPhone and eat Pringles, too.

Acting. While I'm sure their performances were enhanced by the found footage aspect, Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, and Michael B. Jordan do a great job playing the three teens who come upon the super powers. Dane DeHaan's character of Andrew is particularly worth mentioning because it's a little complex.

Special effects. Gotta hand it to the special effects team for some of the great shots in this film. A lot of the slower telekinesis playing shots are a bit phony looking, but the flying and some of the bigger explosions are amazing. It helps that this is a found footage film and so the quality of video doesn't always look great, which means the special effects don't need to look that good either. But they are quite convincing for the most part. The is especially impressive considering that the film only had a $15 million budget and has so far grossed over $63 million worldwide.

Cars don't go in lakes, silly!

THE BAD: Not Seattle. Seattle kind of gets the shaft when it comes to movies taking place in our beautiful city. It's hard to blame Hollywood as our state doesn't exactly makes it cheap or rewarding to film here. Hence why so many productions get filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia or Oregon. Chronicle joins other movies and shows like Twilight: Eclipse, 50/50, and The Killing as they are set in Seattle, but not actually filmed here. The majority of Chronicle is filmed in Vancouver, BC with some filming done in a studio in Cape Town, South Africa. This might be odd to some as the movie features the Space Needle to great extent. But I'm sad to inform you that none of the filming with the actors actually took place here. All the shots of Seattle are superimposed into the film. It's rather unfortunate, especially for this movie because many of the final scenes take place in what is supposed to be downtown Seattle. But for those who know this city and its streets, and know them well, what is seen in the film feels completely foreign. As if it's from another country. Well, it is. Funny thing is, the original script had the movie take place in Portland, Oregon. Go figure.

PG-13. To me, this is an R-rated film. The language, the violence, and even the themes. I didn't know it was PG-13 until a few minutes ago. I could have sworn it had a higher rating.


THE END: Chronicle is a very entertaining film and a nice twist to the found footage genre. I liked it even more than Cloverfield thanks to the complex character of Andrew. I would love to see more films take on this genre and I will not be surprised to see some type of sequel or prequel born out of this. Studios are loving all these films that are relatively cheap to make and perform well at the box office. Check out Chronicle in a theatre near you.


DISCUSS: What did you think of Chronicle? What did not work for you? Do you like the found footage genre? What is your favorite found footage film?

At one point in the film, a character defines telekinesis for us, in case we didn't already know what that was.