Review of Chronicle (2012) by Patrick L — 13 Apr 2014

Chronicle surprised me. The basic premise sounds like a superhero origins story or something, and that is a genre I want no part of. But what Chronicle delivered is something much more nuanced: an example of teenagers gaining super powers and them having no ideology of helping people.

This keeps Chronicle grounded. Like, most of the teenagers who might actively try fighting crime if they had superpowers would be because they are a fan of the superhero genre. Real people would react in a very different way. And Chronicle does a really good job of exploring this more likely outcome, and does so in a way that feels as authentic as possible given the fantasy/sci-fi premise.

Three teenage boys gain some powers. The early stages are kind of expected: blowing air up classmate skirts, throwing things at each other. But as their powers grow, so do the implications of their actions. And as their personal lives skew, so does their ability to make sound judgements.

For being another entry into the quote-unquote found footage genre, Chronicle is surprisingly not too annoying. It mitigates some of the usual trappings of the genre thanks to the one teen sometimes using his powers to hoover the camera and, later in the movie, using security camera footage, tv crew footage, etc. So where most found footage movies have just one camera, shaking all over the place, making it feel almost first person like a video game, this will gives you enough third person perspective to work.