Chronicle

I remember watching Chronicle for the first time on a laptop with a cracked screen while sitting in a dentist's waiting room, and even through the spiderweb of fractured glass, the movie’s shift from playful teenage wish-fulfillment to a terrifying psychological meltdown felt incredibly sharp. At the time, we were drowning in "found footage" movies. Ever since The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield proved you could print money by shaking a camera, every studio was trying to make low-budget gold. But Chronicle didn’t feel like a gimmick; it felt like a window into a very specific, very lonely kind of teenage hell.

The year was 2012. We were right on the cusp of the Marvel Cinematic Universe becoming an unstoppable monoculture—The Avengers would come out just a few months later. Chronicle felt like the gritty, indie antithesis to that. It wasn't about saving the world or wearing spandex; it was about three kids who find a glowing hole in the ground and suddenly have the power to move Legos, then cars, then buildings.

The Camera as a Superpower

What makes Chronicle stand out, even a decade later, is how it justifies its own filming. Usually, in found footage, you’re screaming at the screen: "Why are you still holding the camera while a monster eats your friend?" Here, our protagonist, Andrew Detmer—played with a haunting, twitchy vulnerability by Dane DeHaan (The Place Beyond the Pines)—uses the camera as a shield. He’s a kid from an abusive home with a dying mother and a violent father (Michael Kelly), and the lens is the only thing that lets him keep the world at arm's length.

Once the telekinesis kicks in, the cinematography by Matthew Jensen takes a brilliant turn. Andrew begins to float the camera with his mind. Suddenly, the "shaky cam" evolves into these smooth, sweeping, god-like cinematic movements. It’s a literal manifestation of his growing ego and control. Found footage usually makes me want to reach for the Dramamine, but here, it actually justifies its existence by becoming a character itself. It’s one of those "CGI revolution" moments that wasn't about scale, but about cleverness.

Boys Becoming Gods

The trio at the center of the film is what gives the drama its weight. You have Dane DeHaan, who carries the "school shooter" archetype but imbues it with so much Pathos that you’re rooting for him long after he crosses the line. Then you have Alex Russell (S.W.A.T.) as Matt, the philosophical cousin who tries to impose rules on their new abilities. And then, in a role that feels like a time capsule of "before they were huge," there’s Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Black Panther) as Steve Montgomery.

Michael B. Jordan is so effortlessly charismatic here that he almost high-jacks the movie. He’s the popular kid who actually turns out to be a decent guy, and his chemistry with the other two makes the first half of the film a genuine joy. Watching them pull pranks in toy stores or discover they can fly is pure, infectious fun. It captures that 2012-era YouTube culture—the obsession with capturing every moment, the "is this real?" viral vibe—before everything on the internet felt so curated and corporate.

A Blockbuster with an Indie Soul

For a movie that cost only $15 million, the third act is an absolute masterclass in "doing more with less." The final showdown in Seattle feels more impactful than most $200 million city-leveling finales because we actually care about the kids involved. It’s a tragedy dressed up as a sci-fi thriller. Looking back, most modern superhero movies are just expensive HR meetings compared to this raw, messy exploration of power.

The film was a massive hit, pulling in $145 million and launching the careers of director Josh Trank and writer Max Landis. While both their careers would later become complicated by behind-the-scenes drama and controversy, Chronicle remains a snapshot of a moment where everything clicked. It captured that post-9/11 anxiety of "what happens when an unstable person gets the ultimate weapon?" and mixed it with the burgeoning digital-native lifestyle of the early 2010s.

Chronicle is a rare breed of "recent enough to remember, old enough to reassess" that actually gets better with age. It avoids the polished, sterile feel of current franchise filmmaking in favor of something that feels dirty, dangerous, and deeply human. Whether you’re a fan of the genre or just someone who appreciates a character study that ends with people being thrown through buildings, it’s a trip worth taking. It’s a reminder that the best special effect is always a great performance.