Chronicle

Directed by Josh Trank

(PG-13)

★★★

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Chronicle is “the most original and excitingly executed” found-footage-style film in years, said Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly. When three high school students gain telekinetic powers after stumbling upon extraterrestrial crystals, their story is captured in a video-diary format whose haphazard look makes every special effect feel “tangibly real.” The boys learn they can fly—they even toss a football in the clouds—and we’re “right in the middle” of each giddy discovery. “But things turn dark fairly quickly,” said Claudia Puig in USA Today. Andrew, the loner who’s creating the video diary, lives in an abusive home, and he soon begins using his powers to lash out. Though Dane DeHaan gives Andrew “an intriguing blend of sensitivity and surliness that makes him highly sympathetic,” the kid’s still out of control. The film’s explosive finale “goes on a little too long,” said Connie Ogle in The Miami Herald. After you’ve “seen bodies flying and crashing through buildings once, you’ve seen it plenty.” But Chronicle still rates as an impressive work from a first-time director. In “the doldrums of the winter film season,” it’s “a pleasant surprise.”