Whilst this film was initially received with excitement and
enthusiasm, and still has a high ‘fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I would
argue that its only innovation is a new combination of now tired, well-used
narratives. Some might say that there is very rarely anything new in a lot of
the movies we praise – it is all a combination of what has gone before – but
for me success depends upon how well it is handled or manipulated. Chronicle is
essentially a film about social exclusion, the typical teenage outsider movie.
However, it combines this with both science-fiction (not original in itself –
see Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or The Faculty) and the found-footage technique.
This last element is now becoming a loose genre. The Blair Witch Project,
Cloverfield, and Paranormal Activity have been its main successes. But there
always comes a point in such movies when we ask: why are you still filming? Why
haven’t you put the camera down? Along with this other questions occur to us –
who has edited this together? Who is
watching this film? Ultimately, these concerns do urge us to ask serious
questions about the nature of all film – who is viewing in any movie we watch?
What position does the camera take on the action it is filming? – but we are
capable of doing this without being prompted by found-footage. Where Chronicle
does exceed slightly beyond other social exclusion films is that the main
character is never fully included. Whilst in other movies of this type he/she
eventually becomes popular and accepted, here he moves beyond a transient, superficial
acceptance and into a deeper, darker exclusion. This is perhaps the inevitable
outcome of any social outsider – they can never be included, can never resolve
their issues – and gives the film, as I said, it’s only point of originality.
However, the film ends rather weakly and unsatisfactorily. Nothing is resolved
or understood. A sequel, however, is apparently on the way.
