Blu-ray Review: Chronicle (2012) - Page 2

What’s most interesting is how each of them deals with their situation. The troubled Andrew is the most fascinated with figuring out how he can manipulate others, especially his dad, with his power. Steve seems to just want to have a little fun. Matt is pretty much indifferent to the whole thing and spends more time wooing Casey (Ashley Hinshaw), a video blogger who also films everything in her life. Casey could have been used as an interesting counterpoint to Andrew, maybe filming some of the unusual happenings going on and blogging about them, but her main purpose is simply to add another camera to the mix. What's frustrating about Chronicle is that not much happens for the first half of the movie. No one seems to notice anything strange happening, even when Andrew demonstrates some of his powers during the school talent show, or when a student gets his teeth pulled right out of his head.

Those are the limitations of the “found-footage” genre. In this case it feels like an excuse for incomplete story-telling. The film is a series of events more than anything else. There is never a chance for anyone to really ponder anything. We only get to know the characters from the point of view of them talking into the camera. It actually does a pretty good job of establishing what type of people they are, but it feels like the film only scratched the surface of its own potential. That being said, the last act of the film is pretty intense, as ever-bullied Andrew becomes obsessed with his newfound ability to control and dominate. Revealing too much of what happens would only ruin it, but it does make the movie worth watching. Overall this movie is not great, but it is interesting, and I liked the naturalistic performances of the three leads.

The Blu-ray is presented in a 1080p/AVC encoded transfer. The visual quality of the movie is greater than Andrew’s video camera would probably be capable of. Andrew's first camera is a few years old, but he upgrades to a new digital video camera fairly early in the film. There’s a noticeable difference in the look of the footage, which stays true to the concept of the film. The detail is good–almost too good, because aside from the framing it's easy to forget this is supposed to be a found-footage movie. The colors are also very sharp and vibrant. The Pacific Northwest scenery is lush, with the deep greens and earth tones well represented.

Article Author: Sherry Lipp

Sherry writes mostly music and DVD reviews, and on occasion she gets to do an interview. She plays the guitar, loves to read, watch movies, and write. Sherry also is a gluten free food blogger, and enjoys coming up with grain and sugar free recipes.

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