Chronicle Review

Super Hero Movies are the thing, they basically have there own genre now and have nearly been done to death but they haven't got the 'found footage' or 'handy-cam' treatment Esq; Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity.' In his first feature Director Josh Trank gives it that and attempted to pull of something different but falls a bit short.

Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan all get some kind of super-powered gene that is never explained and that's fine because we don't need to know.

The three stars all give career kicking off performances. The on-screen banter and comedy between the three is very believable and understandable for there age. They get telekinesis so they start scaring little girls in a store and just doing pranks. Never is there the mention of the line about 'we need to use these powers for something greater, like being superheroes.' No, they're just young kids who are doing stupid and funny things with these powers and just having a bit of fun and DeHaan, Russell and Jordan all make this very believable and funny to watch on screen.

Chronicle makes some bold plot moves and some not so bold ones. The trailer and premise seemed to have allot more potential in it than the movie pulled through with. Chronicle plays with the idea of what young kids would do with powers and then in the case of DeHaan's character, Andrew,  what a tortured soul and someone under high stress would do with these powers. Unfortunately the plot just doesn't pull through with the premise.

The ending in Chronicle is just very lackluster and seems to come out of left field and to fast even though from the start you know that it is coming. It never deals with any of the ideas it seems to gather and simply boils down to just a movie about teens with super-powers. Which although was a at times funny and an interesting thing to watch especially with three really interesting characters, it just boils down to that and never takes it foot of the mark intro something more.

Andrew (Dane DeHaan) hones his skills

Chronicle has some really good performances and good special effects considering the type of movie this is. The ability to use the characters telekinesis to move the camera around was also a smart move but the plot just doesn't pull this one in for me

Acting: 7.5

Writing: 6.0

Direction: 7.0

Production: 8.0

Overall: 7.0