Chronicle - 8 stars out of 10

Chronicle - 8 stars out of 10

"Chronicle" is a visual feast for the eyes.  With special effects in virtually every scene of the film. the line between movie tricks and reality is quickly blurred until you are believing just about every thing that you see on the screen.  Unlike "Paranormal Activity" and "The Blair Witch Project," this film doesn't claim to be true and that's actually one of the film's greatest assets.  Instead of watching it with a skeptical eye and constantly thinking 'There is no way that this is real," you can just suspend your disbelief from the start and truly get into this fascinating story.  The found footage technique (one of my favorites) is perfect for this film, creating a sense of "What if I had super powers?" and making it seem like a realistic possibility for the 83 minute duration.  Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, and Michael Jordan play their mischievous teenage boy roles convincingly, but I think that the writers deserve the credit for making this film so believable.  The pacing of this movie is perfect, introducing the characters pre-powers, creating a scene-by-scene progression as they "exercise" their powers and move from simple pranks to dark acts, and also showing the emotional progression as the powers take their toll on the boys.  The writers also cover all of the cool things that we would want to do if we had powers and allow us to experience them through POV shots due to the nature of the film.  The flying scene is so cool that I had to watch it twice.  Things get a bit farfetched toward the end, but it's an awesome ending to the film and I don't have any complaints.  "Chronicle" is an awesome film that gives a darker view of super powers, and I would gladly watch this one several more times.