Review of Chronicle (2012) by James W — 16 Jan 2014

Seattle is a car flipping, building destroying playground in this remarkable and surprisingly deep thriller! Chronicle avoids the pitfalls and cliches of most found footage outings by boasting a huge scale similar to Cloverfield, an original story that focuses on powers instead of demons and featuring one interesting thing: Having a story that would work outside of the POV format, you could imagine this being written and filmed in the normal style, which isn't the case with the Paranormal Activity films or The Devil Inside and so on.

The visuals are exceptional for a movie of this type and the best aspect of the movie is the powers, and letting these curious teens unleash their abilities in fun and experimental ways. As their powers grow their ego's grow too, but it's mainly Andrew who becomes a danger with his powers.

The character development here is so rich for these three likeable and funny guys, brought to life by three excellent leading actors. Josh Trank's direction is superb, he never lets the pace slack and the use of phone cameras, camcorders and numerous other gadgets widens the viewpoint in a way that captures every moment of excitement.

Another rare aspect of this movie is that it ends with most the questions answered, aside from the reasons as to why they gained the powers, most found footage movies end abruptly sometimes leaving viewers pissed off or gripped but Chronicle starts with intrigue and ends with a bang!