Cronicas Movie Review

Crónicas is a bleak social commentary on journalistic ethics which examines the effects of the media in contemporary society, as well as the ways in which the mass media manipulate and distort the truth.

The film tells the story of Manolo Bonilla (John Leguizamo), a popular Miami based Latino reporter, who travels to Ecuador to investigate a string of child rapes and murders. After a local bible salesman claiming to have insight into the case hits and kills a young boy with his truck, Manolo agrees to produce and air a favorable report of the accident in exchange for information on the "Monster of Babahoyo."

The concept and ideology of this film were truly amazing and had limitless potential, yet the film turned out to be rather mediocre and anti-climactic, especially for a film deemed a "taut thriller." The suspense was severely inhibited by an inconsistently paced screenplay. The film opens with an explosive scene of escalating violence that almost crosses the line. However, it quickly loses momentum and continues to drag through the rest of the film. Another major screenplay flaw was the fact that the plot was weak and becomes incredibly predictable from the first frame, which in-turn loses the attention of the audience. There was also a great deal of pointless dialogue throughout, which aimlessly inter-mixes English and Spanish together in conversations between Manolo and his crew. The editing process also severely compromised the suspense of the film because the Director didn't effectively play up the dramatic moments by punctuating the tenseness of the environment and situations.

Despite its flaws there were a variety of elements that helped make up for the weak screenplay and editing. The film was filled with interesting, un-ethical and un-likable characters; setting an obscure distinction between the protagonist and antagonist. The acting was great for the most part, especially with the inadequate state of the script. The expressive Cinematography also painted a very grim, yet interesting picture of the dilapidated Latin American country. Although as vivid as the camera work was, it did tend to be excessively shaky at times; drawing attention to itself and pulling the audience out of the film. Crónicas could have rivaled great suspense thrillers like The Silence of the Lambs, yet it lacked pizzazz and was crammed with political rhetoric involving sophisticated societal issues such as: police corruption and ineffectiveness in Latin America, Media interference and cold-heartedness, and the failure of the justice system. Those issues should have played a lower-key part in the film, being only subconsciously evident, rather than the focus and driving force of the film.