Chronicle



Chronicle is a 2012 sci-fi/action/coming of age film directed by Josh Trank focusing on three teenage boys who discover a mysterious object in a cave on the outskirts of town. They soon discover that exposure to the object has granted each of them telekinetic abilities. As they practice with their abilities, they get stronger with them, and learn to fly and protect themselves from harm. While they don't exactly become heroic pillars of justice with their powers, they mostly use them for random pranks and goofing around, as teen boys do.

However, they soon discover that the gifts they have been granted may be drawing out their darker and more dangerous sides...

For a movie with a similar plot, see Akira. ---

Chronicle contains examples of:
" : I could crush you! Do you know that? I could crush you! : Don't make me do this!"
 * A God Am I/Nietzsche Wannabe:
 * Abusive Parents: Richard Detmer, especially in his final scene.
 * Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear whether
 * Applied Phlebotinum:
 * Arc Words: "You're stronger than this." First said by Andrew's mother to reassure him. Given an Ironic Echo at the end, after Andrew
 * Berserk Button: Don't tell Andrew what to do. And GET AWAY FROM HIM.
 * Big Man on Campus: Steve.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Body Horror: Happens to a spider at one point.
 * Bond Breaker: Ultimately,.
 * Bullet Catch:
 * Andrew successfully does this while.
 * Matt not so much.
 * Cain and Abel: Played with. Andrew and Matt are cousins, not actual brothers, and Andrew is the younger sibling, but
 * California Doubling: Cape Town for Seattle.
 * Camera Abuse:
 * Some bullies take Andrew's camera and slide it along the floor.
 * A drink gets spilled on the lens of Andrew's camera at one point.
 * Andrew's first camera gets buried after they discover the underground cave.
 * The camera falls a few times while the boys practice flying.
 * During the climax which was filmed from multiple cameras, many of them end up getting smashed.
 * Calling the Old Man Out: Andrew's constantly quarreling with his Jerkass father.
 * Car Fu:
 * Caught on Tape: To be expected. It is implied that Andrew bought the first camera so his alcoholic father won't beat him for fear of this..
 * Character Development: Matt goes from
 * Chekhov's Gun: Andrew explains how his father used to be a firefighter..
 * Chekhov's Skill: As they experiment with their powers, the boys learn they can create barriers around themselves. Andrew shows this to Matt by stabbing at his hand with a fork. The fork loses.
 * Colbert Bump: The term "apex predator" received a considerable spike in searches after this movie came out.
 * Comes Great Responsibility: Double Subverted and Deconstructed. At first, the kids never think of using their powers for the common good, as opposed to shits and giggles. Then, after the incident with the trucker, Matt lays down the rules for the ethical use of superpowers (see Mind Over Manners below); the kids still don't use their powers to help people, but at least stop dicking around with them. Then,.
 * Comic Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Andrew refers to himself as an "Apex Predator", which is the closest any of the super powered characters get to using an alias.
 * Coming of Age Story: With superpowers!
 * Composite Character: Andrew shares several similarities with His personality also seems to be modeled after the profiles of.
 * Dawson Casting: All of the leads are in their 20's.
 * Death by Irony:
 * Really, he brought it onto himself.
 * Deconstruction:
 * Of teens gaining superpowers.
 * Also of super villains, in that the film takes a closer look at what would drive someone to become one.
 * Decoy Protagonist: Soon after, we switch the point of view to
 * Despair Event Horizon: So, Andrew is now
 * And just in case that wasn't enough,
 * Don't Make Me Destroy You:  threatens   nearly enough with exact words.
 * Despair Event Horizon: So, Andrew is now
 * And just in case that wasn't enough,
 * Don't Make Me Destroy You:  threatens   nearly enough with exact words.

"Richard: You're hoarding a five-hundred dollar camera from me while your mother is dying and every penny of mine goes to your school! Andrew: You don't pay for public school, you idiot!"
 * Drowning My Sorrows: Richard seems to have a shitty enough life for it.
 * Drunk on the Dark Side:.
 * Eldritch Abomination: The stone...plant...thing that gives the boys their powers has difinite shades of this. Interferes with technology? Check. Mysterious? Check. Inexplicable powers over reality? Check.
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: is seemingly the only person he shows affection towards, and, conversely, the only person who seems to truly care for him.
 * Evil Costume Switch:.
 * Evil Sounds Deep / Evil Is Hammy:.
 * Face Heel Turn:, after.
 * Fake American: Alex Russel (Matt) has a pretty strong Aussie accent behind the scenes.
 * Finger Gun: Andrew uses one to knock out a local gang member.
 * Flying Brick: When the boys master their powers, they come very close to this archetype: they can fly, kick major ass, and resist damage.
 * Found Footage Films: Subverted in that the film uses multiple cameras owned by different people.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble: Andrew is melancholic, Steve is choleric and Matt is phlegmatic.
 * Foreshadowing:
 * After the talent show, Matt mentions that Andrew's expanding ego and hubris will be his downfall. He says it semi-jokingly, but it's from that point on that things start going downhill.
 * During the toy store scene,  holds a red lightsaber like the one used by Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Also, evidently, a Shout-Out.
 * During the Lego scene, Andrew builds a model of the Seattle Space Needle. Guess where the climax occurs?
 * Freudian Trio: Steve as The Superego, Matt as The Ego, and Andrew as The Id.
 * From Nobody to Nightmare:
 * Genre Busting: Teen Drama? Thriller? Sci-fi action? A Deconstructed Superhero Origins tale?
 * Healthcare Motivation:
 * Hope Spot:
 * Matt's recording at the party epitomizes the sense that Andrew's life might really start improving. Tragically, it's all downhill from there.
 * Why Richard, do you finally seem to care about your son when he's in a coma? Oh, you don't, you're just here to heap some more abuse on the pile.
 * How Do I Shot Web?: A good deal of the second act involves the trio learning how to use their telekinetic powers, as well as their application.
 * I Did What I Had to Do: Matt says this word for word after  Foreshadowed when
 * Ill Girl: Mrs. Detmer.
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The final fate of, to stop his rampage.
 * Insane Troll Logic: Richard wordlessly barges into Andrew's room and slaps him out of his seat in his first onscreen scene. He rationalizes it by screaming that Andrew should "open the door when I say so". This goes to demonstrate how Richard's drinking problem has rendered him increasingly detached from reality, and it foreshadows what he says to Andrew during the
 * Interface Screw: The strange object causes the camera to behave erratically.
 * In-Universe Camera: Used consistently throughout the movie. Editing is achieved by jumping from camera to camera, including security cameras and cellphones. Also, even though the cameras are in universe, they are still able to film sections of it like a typical third person movie by having Andrew use his powers to levitate various cameras around. It's implied that
 * Jerkass: It doesn't take much to realize that Andrew's father, Richard, is simply using his son as an outlet for venting his stress and passing blame for his family's financial issues from himself. He even calls Andrew selfish for keeping an expensive camera (that was a gift from his cousin) from him (after said camera caught him searching through his son's room, clearly looking for money.) True, he does care deeply for his wife and wants to help get her the treatment she needs, but that raises the question as to why he can't stop spending money on alcohol rather than blaming everything on his son. The fact that when we first hear his voice he's established to be a belligerent alcoholic that is essentially responsible for Andrew's instability doesn't help either.

"1. Don't use your powers on living things. 2. Don't use your powers when angry. 3. Don't use your powers in public."
 * Jerkass Victim:
 * It's easy not to feel too bad when
 * Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: When Richard, he starts crying by his bedside. Seems like he actually feels bad about what happened to his son. We then find out  , and proceeds to blame Andrew for it.
 * Jittercam: Played straight for the first parts of the movie, but later averted due to Andrew keeping the camera steady and constantly running using his powers.
 * Jumping Off the Slippery Slope:
 * Karma Houdini: Richard.
 * Kick the Dog: Andrew has a lot of moments where it counts -
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch: When Andrew
 * Kid Hero: Subverted and deconstructed. Matt is the only one of the boys who can be considered a true hero, and, not coincidentally,.
 * Leave Me Alone:
 * Loners Are Freaks: More than a little implied with Andrew, especially before the incident that gave him powers.
 * Madden Into Misanthropy:  and not in the funny Comedic Sociopathy kind of way.
 * Messianic Archetype: Steve comes the closest out of the three. He's also notably the first one to learn to fly.
 * Mind Over Manners: Matt tries to establish rules for the safe and ethical use of their powers after their telekinesis gets so strong that Andrew almost kills a redneck trucker.


 * Mind Over Matter: The boys' powers.
 * Missing Trailer Scene: A couple of scenes that appear in the trailers did not show up in the theatrical version, though they are restored in the extended cut.
 * Mood Whiplash: The boys' usage of their powers goes from playful to tragic in quite a few scenes.
 * Mugging the Monster: Picking on a kid with telekinetic powers ends as well as expected.
 * Mundane Utility: All over the place, including Steve floating food to his mouth, Andrew doing magic tricks, Andrew operating his camera telekinetically (even as Matt and Steve keep on using their hands for this,) and Andrew moving puddles out of his path.
 * Nice Guy: Apart from some of the Super Dickery, Steve is the one genuinely affable character in the film, from start to finish.
 * Nigh Invulnerability: The boys learn to create a telekinetic "barrier" around themselves, protecting them from physical attack. Emphasis on the "nigh" in this case, though; all three are injured at one point or another in the movie by things they didn't see coming.
 * No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Steve is a genuinely nice guy who befriends Andrew, and even
 * Not So Different: Richard and Andrew. Both are immature pricks who care deeply for the same woman. Both of them are struggling with depression and massive inferiority complexes. Neither show mercy towards those they deem deserving of punishment. The only difference? One is an alcoholic and the other is a telekinetic. Cue Curb Stomp Battle.
 * Not So Stoic: Pothead pseudo-philosopher with hints of a superiority complex, Matt steadily starts showing real emotion in response to  until he's sobbing uncontrollably.
 * Not the Fall That Kills You: Averted.
 * Not Using the Z Word: The kids never compare themselves to, say, Peter Parker or the Fantastic Four, and no one uses the words "superpower" or "superhero", as if comic books simply don't exist in this universe. Considering the boys have to look up "telekinesis" in the dictionary before they can put a name on "the thing we can do where we move stuff with our minds", maybe this is exactly the case.
 * Not Wearing Tights: See directly above.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil:  before Jumping Off the Slippery Slope.
 * Person of Mass Destruction:
 * Power Perversion Potential: It's teen goofs with superpowers. The preview pretty much hangs a lampshade on it.
 * At one point, they turn on a leaf blower to blow some girls' skirts up.
 * Steven implies that he uses his power to "vibrate" his girlfriend. Wink, wink.
 * Psychic Powers: Telekinesis, which is a very broad-range superpower for the creative.
 * Psychic Nosebleed: The boys get this when they overuse their powers.
 * Psychopathic Manchild:
 * Reality Ensues/Deconstruction: The whole film is this to Spider-Man and other teen superheroes.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Every conversation Richard has with his son Andrew degenerates into one of these.
 * Reed Richards Is Useless: Subverted
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge
 * Sacrificial Lamb: Unfortunately,
 * Secret Identity: Subverted. . They recognize him almost instantly by his voice and his distinctive backpack.
 * Self-Made Orphan: Subverted..
 * Sequel Hook: There are subtle hints that the government is not unaware of the source of the boys' powers, and  promises to "find out what happened." Also somebody had to collect all that footage and splice it together. And who else do you think would have gone to all the trouble to  . By the way, a sequel is confirmed as being in the works.
 * Sex as Rite-Of-Passage: It'd discussed by the boys
 * Shallow Love Interest: Casey is only in the film to be Matt's Love Interest (and to give the movie another cameraman to follow).
 * Shoo Out the Clowns:
 * Shout-Out:
 * "The Baseball Test", an experiment the boys do with their powers, smacks of Jackass. The found footage style certainly helps.
 * Word of God confirms one to AKIRA
 * Matt wears a T-shirt featuring the logo of the starship Nostromo.
 * The strange object that gave them powers looks straight out of the planet Krypton.
 * Spiritual Successor: More than a few reviewers have pointed out how the film draws on similar elements and themes from Stephen King's Carrie
 * Stalking Is Love: When Matt confesses to stalking Casey, she is definitely more turned on than creeped out. It's somewhat lampshaded when Matt chuckles and admits he shouldn't have used the word 'stalking'. More likely it was his own awkward way of admitting to having a crush on her.
 * Start of Darkness: The movie, contrary to the marketing, is told from Andrew's perspective. You can blame it on his father, too.
 * Super Dickery: Pretty much how the teens start out.
 * Superhero: The question of whether Chronicle is a superhero movie or not is approaching Internet Backdraft levels. Despite the word "superhero" or "superpowers" never being mentioned, the ways the boys gain their power is heavily reminiscent of Marvel Comics classics (particularly Spider-Man or Fantastic Four), and the further dynamic of the film, particularly the third act, cements this impression.
 * Super-Hero Origin: By the end of the film, Matt has experienced a My Greatest Failure, is motivated by that experience to learn more about the origin and nature of his powers, and is in Tibet, which is basically Memetic Dagobah for budding superheroes.
 * Superpower Lottery: Played with. All of the boys get identical powers (very broadly implemented telekinesis), but their degrees of mastery varies.
 * Teens Are Monsters: At first, some teens are shown to be bullies, hoodlums, or simply inconsiderate assholes, but all of this is within normal limits..
 * The Tooth Hurts: A bully gets a few teeth telekinetically ripped out. Shortly after it happens, the audience is treated to a detailed explanation of how it was done, up to and including a mention about how two of the teeth were accidentally sliced in half when they came out.
 * Tragedy: An excellent example of a modern tragedy. Lampshaded by Matt's comment about "hubris".
 * Trailers Always Spoil: The entire second half of the trailer does all it can to give away, which doesn't really set in until more than halfway through the movie.
 * Villain Protagonist: Sure,, but that doesn't stop the focus on him.
 * Vomit Discretion Shot: When Andrew pukes for the first time, we don't see the process, although we do see the icky aftermath. When he does it again near the end of the movie, it is pretty much a Vomit Indiscretion Shot.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Andrew's, except on a much grander scale.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Casey vanishes from the film after.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Matt keeps calling Andrew out on every major Kick the Dog moment he does, from the time he veered a car off the road (and didn't think it was wrong), to
 * With Great Power Comes Great Perks: Could possibly be The Movie of the trope. After three high-school guys are given telekinetic powers by a mysterious artifact hidden at the bottom of a crater, they mainly use their newfound abilities to waste time in increasingly spectacular ways, from playing pranks on customers at a department store, to playing football several thousand feet off the ground..
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity:
 * In the end,
 * Reversed with
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds:
 * Worf Had the Flu:
 * X Meets Y: Hoo boy.
 * Unbreakable meets Fantastic Four meets Jumper meets Cloverfield meets Super 8...
 * Akira meets Donnie Darko meets The Blair Witch Project!
 * Jumper meets Elephant.
 * Carrie meets Akira.
 * Akira meets Zero Day
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: After the talent show, Andrew's popularity with his schoolmates skyrockets. Yet, he manages to royally screw this up and become even more of a laughingstock in the same night.
 * You Are Not Alone: Both Steve and Matt try to invoke this with Andrew (with the latter even using it word for word)
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: After the talent show, Andrew's popularity with his schoolmates skyrockets. Yet, he manages to royally screw this up and become even more of a laughingstock in the same night.
 * You Are Not Alone: Both Steve and Matt try to invoke this with Andrew (with the latter even using it word for word)