Chronicle Review (2.5/5)

For every brilliant War Horse, there must be one of these duffers.
This year seems to be a period of mass innovation for the movie industry, and Chronicle is one such example of a feature representing this need for originality and ‘the edge’. The film’s producers have opted to style it in a ‘found footage’ format, showing every event in the narrative via handheld video cameras and CCTV footage, a daring move that apes the likes of Cloverfield and R.E.C., yet does the job infinitely better by connecting us to the plights and successes of the characters- a trio of teenagers ‘gifted’ with extraordinary powers-as the storyline develops. However, if this interesting design technique lures you further into the movie’s universe, the blatant teenage clichés, character stereotypes (stuck-up jockeys; popularity-obsessed babes, they’re all here) and the limited protagonist arcs will undoubtedly push you away. There are so many blatant riffs on countless classic US dramas and features of the past that the repetition and sheer predictability of it all makes for tedious viewing at best, especially with the most obvious awkward drunk father-angst ridden son relationship in recent history plaguing the plot for the sake of some depth being added to the main character Andrew’s background. It’s totally avoidable script shortcomings like these that can hold back a good film, but the sad reality is that Chronicle isn’t a good film- it’s an average one whose format does a great job of masking it. You’ll be wowed by the constant focus on camera footage, sure, and the finely-orchestrated superpower sequences will certainly impress upon first glance, yet I’d be surprised if you left the auditorium with anything other than a stale taste in your mouth, as the narrative leaves a lot to be desired in this day and age of film, never moving beyond the confines of a standard teen-drama with a daft, overblown and rather pulled-out-of-nowhere climax that doesn’t do any justice to the movie’s intriguing premise. Many fans of the genre will undoubtedly have wondered who the antagonist of the piece is, and when their identity is revealed, you’ll undoubtedly be disappointed to see that it’s precisely who you expected it to be. If the revelation were a groundbreaking resolution of a considered and emotive character arc, it might have had more impact on me as a viewer. As it was, it was nothing more than a fully expected anticlimax. Chronicle quite literally promises the world to its audience, but it can never quite decide what type of film it wants to be, and thus is left as an awkward jumble of styles and formats that can never quite find its feet. Just last month, Spielberg’s War Horse set the bar for the movie industry’s line-up of offerings in 2012, and Chronicle is easily the first example of how a movie can miss the bar entirely before it even attempts to develop a grip on it. Could this the worst film of the year? We’ll have to wait and see, but my oh my, it’s one you need to pass on.