Chronicle Reviews and Ratings


  • marctorres84
    May 27, 2012
    marctorres84
    This was a very interesting movie....i liked it..
  • alfonz30
    May 27, 2012
    alfonz30
    It's pretty cool actually, having such a gift like that....what an experience..
    But again, like many people said, WITH A BIGGER POWER, COMES A BIGGER RESPONSIBILITY
    And someone is just can't stand it
  • Rootsrebbel
    May 27, 2012
    Rootsrebbel
    not what i expected but was oke. just expected a lil more
  • johnbmiller
    May 26, 2012
    johnbmiller
    Fairly okay Found Footage effort. As with some films like this, the promise is better than the delivery. Since the how-they-became-superhuman effort is left entirely a mystery, you wonder about that throughout the movie. And, the rest is too dark to be all that entertaining.
  • halfbent
    May 26, 2012
    halfbent
    I was expecting this to be another lame cash in of the superhero trend, but wow.. It actually surprised me how well it turned out.
  • andreaayuso
    May 26, 2012
    andreaayuso
    Kind like a superhero movie but not bad at all i like how the shoot the film first person view
  • wigscrue1
    May 26, 2012
    wigscrue1
    I dont give 5 stars that often but when I do the movie is one of my favorites
  • gamer46ful
    May 26, 2012
    gamer46ful
    Defiantly the best movie using the home made movie technique. I could see what was happening, the movie was awesome, bad ass, and totally worth it. I loved this movie. It was fun, exciting and something I would see again. It starts off slow and builds to an epic climax that left ... read moreme at the edge of my seat. Great movie, better than I expected out of this.
  • fb841493678
    May 25, 2012
    fb841493678
    The handheld ideology made the film such an impressive movie. Dane DeHaan character development were stunning, devastating, intense. Way to go Josh Trank and Jay Alaimo!
  • fb720603734
    May 24, 2012
    fb720603734
    I'm REALLY late to the party on some film reviews this year, but my anal retentive side demands I chronicle (see what I did there?) every film I see, so that I can do silly year-end things like BEST OF lists and MOMENTS OUT OF TIME articles. In my twisted universe, if I don't wr... read moreite about something, then it didn't happen. This works really well when trying to forget traumatic experiences like painful surgeries, but not so well when wishing to recall joy.

    I'm actually happy about the delay, however, because it allows me the ability to look back and see if there was anything memorable going on here. I recently was on a judging panel at a comedy contest, and aside from the obvious criteria of being funny, I wanted to decide if I remembered any of the jokes I heard. When the winner was announced, (someone who did not get my vote) I honestly could not remember anything he had said. I asked around, and nobody else could either. So I guess knowing that you laughed is enough to give out a prize in these troubled times!

    All of this is to say that if I look back at my viewing of CHRONICLE, which I saw back in February, I remember a lot. Essentially and cunningly designed as a series of crazy moments strung together, this film takes the Paranormal Activity genre to a whole new level....until it doesn't. A trio of high school students literally fall down a "rabbit hole" and return with telekinetic superpowers. At first, they document these as a series of pranks: Scaring children by making a Teddy Bear levitate, moving a parked car and laughing as the owner searches the lot, etc. Any one of these blackout sketches would go viral overnight on YOUTUBE.

    Of course, this being a film, things have to develop from there. One of the boys (the gifted Dane DeHaan has been established to be troubled. His abusive father and low self-esteem make him one to watch and fear as they learn to hone their newfound skills. As they learn to fly and practically levitate anything, they're able to expand the filmmaking boundaries. Typical films of its ilk (Blair Witch Project for example) rely on a main character running a camera and rarely appearing onscreen. Here, these guys can send a whole collection of self-running cams up in the air to provide more coverage than a Michael Bay film.

    It's here, unfortunately, when the film starts to lose its luster and becomes yet another Blockbuster Superhero Extravaganza. Things get smashed and blown up and there's a giant showdown atop the Seattle Space Needle....yawn. It's just not my thing, but I understand why the filmmakers felt the need to go there.

    The pitch for this film must have been truly ingenious: Hey! Let's disguise an expensive effects movie as a scrappy found footage indie. Every scene could stand on its own as a viral sensation, which will be a great way to market this to both the Comic-Con hipsters and the 3-D loving, CGI-hungry general audience. Sad to say, the last 15 minutes descend into silliness, but up till then, I was really in it.

    As I said, I still remember so much --- the thrill of that first flight, which rivals the similar scene in Spiderman for its sheer joy of discovery, the unexpected accident one character causes, and the shocking death of another. I'm glad somebody attempted to stretch what has become a tired genre, and all these months later, I know CHRONICLE will make my Moments Out Of Time article at the end of the year.
  • hemanthkum
    May 24, 2012
    hemanthkum
    Super-fresh, even for a "found footage" genre. Chronicle wonderfully underplays and overwhelms with a sorry underdog to ultra-dark superhero in way that Marvel never will.

Summary

Chronicle Summary