Photo Credit: Matt Ferguson

About halfway through the movie, Andrew (played by Dane DeHaan) begins the descent into lawlessness and destruction. It's not until the very end that he totally bloody loses it.

Grade: A-

Teenagers aren’t the favorite demographic. When they become destructive, they become even less popular. However, that does make for a wildly entertaining movie.

Chronicle, which opened Feb. 3 in the United States, is the first feature directed by Josh Trank. The film reached the top of the United Kingdom box office, making Trank, 27, the youngest director ever to accomplish the rank.

Chronicle stars Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, and Alex Russel as Andrew, Steve, and Matt, respectively, three high school seniors eager for school to end. However, the last half of senior year becomes more exciting, and more emotionally trying, when the three young men acquire telekinetic powers from a mysterious mineral they found behind an abandoned warehouse during a rave, powers which get stronger the more they discover what they can do.

Okay, it sounds a little far-fetched. But what Chronicle lacks in likelihood it makes up for in genuine characters. Despite the unrealistic circumstances, Andrew, Steve, and Matt interact with one another believably. They go through the tried and true travails of adolescent self-identity. If you take away the freaky telekinesis, you’re left with three friends who don’t quite know what’s happening or even what they wish would happen.

All of Chronicle is told through personal hand-held or security surveillance cameras. It begins with rather immature angles under the guise of Andrew lugging around a ‘90s-era shoulder-borne camera. However, the cinematography becomes more professional after 1) Matt buys Andrew a new, HD camera, and 2) Andrew begins making the aforementioned camera tag along with him through his adventures.

The constant accompaniment of Andrew’s camera comes close to stressing the motif of telling a story through casual observation and recording. However, the film warrants forgiveness in that Andrew, like almost every teenager, just wants attention and validation, and recording his life brings sentimental value to it.

However, the hand-held recording aspect of the movie does make for some continuity errors, such as which camera is recording or how an angle could have suddenly changed.

The special effects in Chronicle are subtly well done. They are not horribly over the top and are just unobtrusive enough to make it appear that telekinesis could exist in the real world.

In all, Chronicle is a solid, entertaining, unique film, one of the best I’ve seen to come out so far this year. Certainly worth seeing.