Chronicle: Review By Corey

Despite the concept, Chronicle is a breath of fresh air even though its done to death story is far too familiar; somehow, strangely, the film feels original due to some of its different ways of getting its story across, especially through realistic and awkward teenage phases. This is certainly not the average superpower concept film, instead the movie actually introduces character's that struggle with their everyday lives and aren't exactly saved from them once they become superhuman. That's Chronicle's strongest suit.

What it means by this is that in most cases when you watch a film that concepts around superpowers, at first you'll meet character's that struggle through life. Character's that aren't cool, mostly geeks, and that aren't so hot around the ladies. Then, of course, they'll be given these superhuman abilities that turn them into gods, and from there their lives change drastically; they'll get with the girl they've had a crush on their entire lives, people will start noticing them, and the struggle of being a human-being almost vanishes. Besides dealing with the duties of being a hero, living the other side of life is as easy as stealing candy from a baby.

Chronicle goes into an entirely new direction at this point. It follows the pattern of introducing the audience to that awkward teenager, the one where we believe that'll gain superhuman powers and become a whole new person/epic hero through them. Instead of jumping right into learning how to overcome the abilities and decide to "save the world", these character's are unsure what to do with these powers. With most films like this in the genre, character's almost automatically decide that they want to become superheroes just because they have superhuman abilities. Not in Chronicle. These character's are confused and almost don't even think that far. They instead continue to struggle with their everyday teenage livelihood, and thats what makes Chronicle so damn good and so damn realistic.

The film surprisingly does the first-person camera genre good justice for once. To our advantage, Chronicle isn't a horror movie that tries too hard and the film actually gets a story across. Another plus is that Chronicle has a conclusion and it isn't unfinished, like just about every "found-footage" film in the dying genre. Chronicle is captivating and astounding to look at in every sense. Its takes the first-person look to a whole new level through gorgeous special effects that'll make you feel as if you right there in the film! Josh Trank has outdone himself in a directorial-debut worth remembering! If Trank doesn't get his hands on a few projects after this film (which I believe he is already rumored for the Fantastic Four reboot), then his talents will be wasted. If the Fantastic Four reboot snatches Trank in the long-run, I may just be one of the first few to actually start supporting the film.

Chronicle builds its story to a climax so beautiful and intense in the most perfect words! Chronicle has a sense of telling a story through a beginning, middle, and end and while that method may be simple it almost works completely. Usually in the "found-footage" genre, a beginning, middle, and end is never to be found. Instead of having a beginning, we'll almost just jump right into the middle, and with the middle there is almost nothing to be found, and as for an ending, when has any "found-footage" film finished with a satisfying conclusion? Chronicle introduces three fun character's who help each other through their high-school days and work to understand their newfound abilities. It's not completely original, but its as original as it gets in its form of story-telling at least.

Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, and Michael B. Jordan give it their all with these high-school character performances! DeHaan leads the film with an awkward, strong, and completely intensifying performance as Andrew, the awkward teen gone wild. Without these well-developed characters, Chronicle probably wouldn't of been as fun as it actually was. Mind you, Chronicle is not as perfect as my words may put it. This is a movie to sit back and enjoy for the time-being, but it'll probably be something you'll scratch your heads at in a few months trying to remember plot-points and such. It's quality entertainment at a perfect-enough degree, and probably one of the first films of 2012 worth seeing on the big-screen!

Thanks for the read!

-Written by Corey Wood