Chronicle: Look Ma, No Hands!

I'm back with a vengeance.
Don't call it a come back.

Chronicle is a film about a group of three high school seniors (the popular guy, the bullied loner and the sort of in-between guy) who, during a typical high school rave party in an abandoned building, stumble upon a cave in the woods and, being drunk high school kids, decide it's a good idea to climb into it. They stumble upon a strange, glowing plant-like rock that emits an odd sound and soon gives the three nosebleeds, prompting them to leave. They soon discover that they now have the power of telekinesis, but before long, the struggle for power begins to break the friends apart.

Overall, Chronicle was nothing special. The film was shot in found-footage style, as are most horror/sci-fi movies these days, but would sometimes abandon this technique which made it a little confusing. It was revealed that the character filming the whole thing could control the camera with his mind which let the filmmakers use whatever shots or angles they wanted at certain times but at others it didn't make much sense. It was effective in its use of multiple cameras including handhelds and security cameras.

Chronicle definitely had an interesting and gripping plot that kept viewers attention throughout, but it was sometimes interrupted by the cliche elements in every film about high-school (the generic bully, the overly fake and unrealistic party scenes).

The main problem I had with the story was the ending. Unfortunately I can't fully explain what about the ending I didn't like without spoiling, but I will say that the final scene was a bit too upbeat for the rest of the film and completely uninteresting. I definitely felt like there was something they could have added to make it a really great ending.

So, on the whole, Chronicle isn't the type of film to rush out and see, but it wasn't an awful movie either. Nothing special, but not a dud.


Coming As Soon As Possible: my review of The Woman In Black