Found footage films have adopted a genre of their own. After the rapturous success of Blair Witch Project, then the mysterious viral campaign of Cloverfield, these movies have started to churn out weekend by weekend. Not all of these films find the Blair Witch success, though. Films like Quarantine or, more recently, The Devil Inside, are neither profitable nor are they well reviewed, despite their modest budgets.

So how can it be done right? How can a movie emulate the awe of a movie like Cloverfield, while sustaining it’s own originality? A little movie called Chronicle may have answered that question.

The most recent entry into the found footage genre, Chronicle follows three teenagers with a penchant for filming things as they become entangled with the consequences of developing superpowers, such as telekinesis or flying. The three friends become closer as they become stronger and as the story progresses, yet for our main character, being strong isn’t enough. He wants more, he wants to become the strongest person in the world, the “apex” as it’s mentioned throughout the film.

Now, there are so many things done right with this film, so I’ll tackle what’s done wrong first. It seems that the movie cheats it’s found footage genre a little bit, and instead of just ditching the handicam early into the movie, much like that of District 9, it finds little excuses to be filming. From creating a ridiculously annoying female character that feels the need to film everything for her blog (that I’m assuming no one reads) to using cell phone cameras to jump cut scenes in the climax. At some point you would just wish the filmmakers would give up on the camera, and just film the actual movie.

Now, there’s some very innovative stuff going on here with the found footage stuff. The filmmakers often think outside of the box, like using their telekinesis skills to rotate the camera in the air and get some killer angles. There are a couple POV shots of our main hero’s flying through the air, and they prove to be quite breathtaking. The characters in this film are real, they have real people problems, and they are people we can ultimately relate to. They all have great chemistry, and for the three main characters, who are all in debut films here, the acting is quite fulfilling. The greatest achievement that can be said about this film is it’s original storytelling. The things that these characters do are often shocking and unpredictable, and it has an ending that is fully satisfying, and despite a CGI-filled showdown, the fight scenes are inventive. There’s one great sequence in which the film’s villain robs a convenience store, which is shot in one take, and it’s some of the most exciting stuff committed to the recent bouts of celluloid populating the cineplexes.

So while it has its slight annoyances, Chronicle is definitely a movie to check out, especially with a big audience that can enjoy the film with you. It’s a great escape and it’s very telling that it came out of nowhere and had no notable actors, and yet still delivered on a number of levels.

Critics’ Score: 85% (according to Rottentomatoes.com)

My Score: 8.5/10