Quartile rating: 4/10 · 1 rating
Three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to their developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, and their darker sides begin to take over.
Chronicle smartly merges the found-footage format with the superhero origin story, giving the genre a raw, grounded feel that felt genuinely fresh in 2012. The slow escalation from playful telekinetic pranks to genuine tragedy is well-paced and emotionally coherent. The found-footage conceit is handled more cleverly than most — the film finds organic justifications for multiple camera angles and eventually uses the format itself as part of the power fantasy. Acting is competent, with Dane DeHaan delivering a standout performance as the increasingly unstable Andrew, while the other leads are serviceable but unremarkable. The climax, while visually ambitious, loses some of the intimate tension that made the first two acts compelling, becoming more conventionally blockbuster-ish. Novelty is the film's strongest suit — the combination of found footage, coming-of-age drama, and superpower corruption felt singular and distinct, even if the core 'power corrupts' theme is familiar.