Chernobyl Diaries Review

Movie: Chernobyl Diaries
By: Maniac E
Date: June 12, 2012

Experience the fallout...

In 1986 Chernobyl reactor number 4 detonates and spews radiation on the nearby town and gives half of Europe a radiation cloud to cover itself. You would think this is an awesome setting for a ghost/found footage film, well so did Oren "Paranormal Activity" Peli. But what did he come up with?

The story:

A travel montage introduces Chris (Jesse McCartney), Amanda (Devin Kelly) and Natalie (Olivia Taylor Dudley) and then the film immediately ditches the camcorder. They meet Chris's brother Paul (Jonathan Sadowski) who's living in Kiev. Paul the troublemaker suggests an extreme tour of Pripyat, the abandoned town near Chernobyl. Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko) leads the tour and also includes backpackers Michael (Nathan Phillips) and Zoe (Ingrid Bolso Berdal). The extreme tourist spot goes bad when the group's van won't start, and they soon realize the city is not as abandoned as they thought.

Sound familiar? It should since this is the story for a plethora of horror movie it's just taking place at a new location. So what suckered me into seeing it? Aside from being assigned this movie, I admit the traps seen in the trailer held potential for a decent and entertaining horror flick. Unfortunately the trailers are once again misleading as Chernobyl Diaries fails to live up to the publicized suspense. Instead the movie is essentially a nonstop cascade of scenes and sequences of the incredibly shallow characters running around from some unseen threat. The camera work of the movie is chaotic, Blair Witch and Cloverfield style that is unsteady and jumpy, which took away from the detail. I think they mainly did this to help keep the monsters true from in the dark and allow the audience's imagination to fill into the details. While the attempt is worthy of recognition, Parker dropped the ball on the delivery making it too fast and shallow. Although the fast pace got us to the ending faster, it still made the movie boring as the story progressed.

One thought I had after watching this film was maybe Parker was planning on the movie being humorous, like the Cabin in The Woods. Unfortunately the comedy aspect of this film was lost on me as well. The stupidity of the college kids and the predictable path they take only made me laugh at how pathetic they were. Unfortunately the dialog was unable to humor me as well and mainly consisted of the kids saying "Oh my God!" or dropping an F bomb, further adding to the disappointment. This dialog combined with the shallow characters also meant the acting didn't have to be that good as well. Although the actors played the college kid roll well, the acting was nothing extraordinary and isn't enough to convince me to suggest this movie. As for the ending of the film, well to put it nicely it stunk. Once again I was left with questions and a bit cheated out of my money. While I feel some will like the ending or find it funny, I can't say I enjoyed it all.

Were there any positives to this movie? For me there were only some minor positives I could find. Although I normally don't like the ashy grey and desolate camera colors, I felt for this movie they were needed. This camera filter brought the desolate and hopeless city to life, which added some emotional chill to the film. A few of the shots also managed to capture the isolation and terror they wanted, though they were few and far in between. Despite the simple acting, the actresses in the movie were very nice to look at and was the only thing really keeping me in the movie. Finally the short time limit of the movie was for once a good thing as I got out of this movie faster than I expected.

To sum up this movie, it's one best left to the Redbox. Although I applaud their use of letting the imagination paint the horror, the delivery still failed to impress me. Again there are no characters to latch on to in this film, and unless you just want to see lots of shadows and hear countless cursing, you will want to avoid this. Potential ruined and avoid.

BLURAY REVIEW

Image quality

The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 & 1.61:1 aspect ratios) presentation is working with a traditional offering of digital cinematography, leaving an extremely clean, flat viewing experience that sustains crispness throughout the entire movie. Black levels aren't particularly deep or inviting, but they maintain some feel for textures and distances, while flashlight-flooded evening sequences display mild solidification. Some banding is detected. Colors are generally unwelcome around these parts, with the overall image carrying a cold bluish-gray look highlighting only the occasional pop of a generous hue. Bloodshed does retain its natural red, while costuming keeps the image somewhat varied. Fine detail is quite good, offering a textured read of crumbling ghost town particulars, while facial responses register with intended emotion and infrequent nuance.

Sound

The 5.1 DTS-HD sound mix doesn't quite rattle the senses as one might expect from a horror picture, with the majority of the track devoted to dialogue exchanges that grow more pointed as the film unfolds. Voices are crisp and weighty, while group activity is nicely balanced without any distortion. It's a quiet movie that portions its shocks sparingly, preferring to set the mood through atmospherics, which are satisfactorily represented here with mild surround interest, keeping wind, echo, and water movement alive, while more traditional terror elements join the festivities in the last act, sinking into an immersive, directional event. Low-end is light but effective when called upon, keeping soundtrack cuts anchored and emphasizing jolts. Sound effects, such as croaking radiation detectors, are pleasingly amplified to unnerve.

Extras

none

Overall

Overall a bit of a shame that the movie it self turned out the way it did. The disc visually and sound wise are good for what it is. Everything is filmed with a handy cam so don't expect to much of the picture quality.

E1 Entertainment