Chronicle: Critic Reviews

92%

MovieWeb: 18 reviews

85%

Rotten Tomatoes: 172 reviews

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Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

84

Based on Chronicle, it's clear that Trank has the right stuff to move up to big-budget fantasy movies. If he wants to, that is. In a lot of ways, he has already beaten the studios at their game.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Manohla Dargis New York Times (Top Critic)

70

Mr. Russell and Mr. Jordan are as likable as their characters, but it's Mr. DeHaan who pulls you uneasily in.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Peter Bradshaw Guardian [UK] (Top Critic)

80

You'll believe an emotionally damaged nerd can fly.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Claudia Puig USA Today (Top Critic)

75

It's a testament to Trank's capable direction that the movie feels so grounded in reality. There is no sense of the magical in the goings-on, even though what the boys are doing defies logic and gravity.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Mark Jenkins Washington Post (Top Critic)

50

A pretty good idea for a sci-fi thriller is undermined by hastiness - and by the pretense that it was mostly shot by one of its protagonists.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Ty Burr Boston Globe (Top Critic)

63

"Chronicle'' will never be mistaken for an artistic breakthrough, but it has a solid gimmick and pieces of it are brilliant.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Aaron Hillis Village Voice (Top Critic)

Chronicle, with its found-footage storytelling and superpowered teens, at least playfully transcends its "Cloverfield meets Heroes" pitch.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Joe Neumaier New York Daily News (Top Critic)

60

"Chronicle" is an energetic hodgepodge that tweaks familiar conventions just enough to seem fresh. Forget the X-Men - these are iHeroes.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Glenn Kenny MSN Movies (Top Critic)

60

...even as its ostensible innovations flag, Chronicle remains watchable, and it doesn't hurt that the picture is a pretty tidy 85 minutes or so.
Full Review » 1 year ago
David Denby New Yorker (Top Critic)

"Chronicle" is a mildly experimental commercial film, and, for the most part, it's loose-limbed fun.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

88

Sometimes a movie arrives out of the blue that announces the arrival of considerable new talents.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Ben Sachs Chicago Reader (Top Critic)

As pulp sci-fi this Fox release is pretty good, but it's also commendable for its sensitive depiction of adolescent behavior.
Full Review » 5 months ago
Steven Rea Philadelphia Inquirer (Top Critic)

88

This is how the young Clark Kent must have felt. If Clark Kent had been on Facebook.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Adam Graham Detroit News (Top Critic)

84

Chronicle puts a fresh, invigorating spin on the superhero origin story, a tale Hollywood spins again and again (and again).
Full Review » 1 year ago
Bill Goodykoontz Arizona Republic (Top Critic)

70

It isn't a great movie, but one could imagine -- and hope -- that it becomes a cult favorite, outlasting other films of its ilk.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Peter Debruge Variety (Top Critic)

Unlike other mock docs, which unconvincingly pass themselves off as real, Chronicle cleverly embraces the format as shorthand for a new kind of naturalism.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Kyle Smith New York Post (Top Critic)

38

With great power comes the responsibility to make a decent movie, but the mysterious force running through "Chronicle" is the power to supersuck.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Peter Howell Toronto Star (Top Critic)

63

As yet another found-footage film, Chronicle makes a good argument against further use of this tired conceit.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Eric D. Snider Film.com (Top Critic)

59

Without the found-footage distraction, Chronicle is an entertaining and creative take on the concept of teenage superpowers.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Rick Groen Globe and Mail (Top Critic)

50

Once again, the conceit collapses along with the movie, and all that's left is third-act mayhem.
Full Review » 1 year ago
James Berardinelli ReelViews (Top Critic)

75

Chronicle is the kind of movie that makes one excited about the future prospects of the man at the helm.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Todd McCarthy Hollywood Reporter (Top Critic)

Although it dog-legs into silly mayhem in the homestretch, for a good portion of its quick 83-minute running time Chronicle is a quite clever boys-gone-wild-on-telekinetic-powers fantasy.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Christy Lemire Associated Press (Top Critic)

75

This is an auspicious beginning for a couple of exciting, young filmmaking voices.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Richard Corliss TIME Magazine (Top Critic)

The simultaneously diverting and annoying Chronicle, directed by Josh Trask, is something like the 184th Found-Footage Faux-Doc horror movie of the past few years.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Peter Travers Rolling Stone (Top Critic)

75

The potent and provocative journey in Chronicle never stops springing surprises. You'll be hooked.
Full Review » 1 year ago