CHRONICLE

year: 2012 rating: **1/2

Three teenage boys, after discovering a mysterious hole in the ground, acquire telekinetic powers. The main character, Andrew, the nerdiest of the group with a dying mother and abusive dad, is determined – even before the transformation – to film everything on his home video camera.

The best scenes involve the trio first discovering their skills by lifting smaller objects around, performing miraculous tricks at the school’s talent show, and eventually maneuvering vehicles: think if Sissy Spacek’s CARRIE directed JACKASS.

The reactions of the wizardly teens, playing God with the unaware dolts around them, is infectious – you’ll wonder what they’ll think of next. But when things kick up a few notches, and they begin flying around like teenage superheroes, it resembles a computerized mainstream motion picture, losing the spontaneous edge of the “chronicling camera” device. Here's where the characters get lost in the mix: especially after Andrew becomes a formidable villain that can’t be stopped, resulting in an air battle you’d see in a video game. But as entertainment goes, this does entertain. It’s too bad the film – like the characters therein – eventually takes its powers, and itself, way too far and far too seriously.