History Film / Chronicle

* WorfHadTheFlu: [[spoiler: Andrew is the strongest out of the three boys, but failed to take out Matt in the climax -- even though it should have been pretty easy considering the level of control he has over his powers -- and was easily killed by him instead. The fact that he only recently emerged from a coma, was suffering from severe burn wounds and probably also heavily doped up on painkillers likely affected his performance.]]

** Richard, thinking Andrew is incapacitated beyond being able to retaliate, attempts to KickTheSonOfABitch while he's seemingly barely conscious in a hospital bed. It doesn't go so well for him, either.

* TooDumbToLive: Andrew during his SanitySlippage telekinetically slams a clerk against the wall before robbing him of his cash. Despite this demonstration of supernatural abilities, the clerk rushes out at Andrew with a shotgun in tow. This doesn't end well for him.

[[caption-width-right:350:More psychic teens, less [[Anime/{{Akira}} xylophone]].]]

* IllGirl: Mrs. Detmer, who is suffering from a severe illness which keeps her largely bedridden. [[spoiler: It kills her near the end]].

** Steven implies that he uses his power to "vibrate" his girlfriend. [[LampshadedDoubleEntendre Wink, wink]].

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

Following the film's success, a sequel was planned with Landis returning to write the script, but complications ensued in the years to come that led to a new writer being hired. Trank further admitted in 2020 that he was completely disinterested in making or seeing another director make a sequel. In August 2021, producer John Davis announced that a sequel was being made. Little has been revealed about the film, save that its leads will be women, it will be set 10 years after the original film, and its themes will include fake news and coverups.

** There's one to ''[[Manga/{{Akira}} AKIRA]]'' [[spoiler:in the third act with Andrew wearing hospital gown.]] Of course, the whole movie is a shout out to AKIRA, right down to a climax full of SayMyName.

The film focuses 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 [[MindOverMatter telekinetic abilities]].

In the August of 2021, producer John Davis announced that a sequel was being made. Little has been revealed about the film, save that its leads will be women.

** "The Baseball Test", an experiment the boys do with their powers, smacks of ''{{Jackass}}''. The found footage style certainly helps.

** Andrew himself. He has very hard time taking any sort of responsibility or facing consequences of his actions. Just recall his entire reaction after the trucker scene and how he would rather bail the place, rather than call police and report the accident. And it only goes worse from there... Except maybe when [[spoiler: he ends up killing Steve by accident, [[VillainHasAPoint and getting fed up with Richard for the above]].

** Andrew himself. He has very hard time taking any sort of responsibility or facing consequences of his actions. Just recall his entire reaction after the trucker scene and how he would rather bail the place, rather than call police and report the accident. And it only goes worse from there...

* PoorCommunicationKills: In the climax, [[spoiler: Matt tries to approach Andrew, who lashes out at him asking why he saved his father, who he was trying to drop from a building, [[YouKnowWhatYouDid without telling Matt]] [[AbusiveParents his reason]] [[KickTheSonOfABitch for doing so]]. Matt is clearly confused by this question, implying he wasn't aware of the abuse Andrew was going through at home. To him, it seems Andrew has simply lost his mind and is attacking Seattle for no apparent reason]].

* HoYay: The immediate and newfound closeness between Steve and Andrew faces joking insinuations from Matt, especially when they hold hands in the air when Andrew learns to fly. Steve's incredible comfort with physical contact and affectionate nature doesn't help the matter.

* TheShangriLa: Invoked by Andrew, who clearly considers Tibet to be just like in the ''Literature/LostHorizon''.

* MirrorCharacter: 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. [[PayEvilUntoEvil Neither show mercy towards those they deem deserving of punishment]]. One could even reason that Andrew's telekinesis and constant filming become as much of an addiction for him as alcohol is for his father.

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Type 2. Despite having magic powers that ''far'' exceed anything that could be done with a trick and a good imagination for them, Andrew is so put upon he doesn't try to use his powers for more than petty solutions. It would be a different movie if he chose to get media attention for the "fame and money" angle rather than "talent shows and street crime."

* NotSoDifferent: 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. [[PayEvilUntoEvil Neither show mercy towards those they deem deserving of punishment]]. One could even reason that Andrew's telekinesis and constant filming become as much of an addiction for him as alcohol is for his father.

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Andrew. You can only feel sorry for all the bad things happening to him and his eventual snap.]]

* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: What misfortunes that [[spoiler:Andrew]] gone through in the movie would cause him to go off the deep end.

* ColdBloodedTorture: Andrew [[spoiler:rips a spider apart for fun and, for revenge, rips bullies' teeth out.]]

* MaddenIntoMisanthropy: [[spoiler: Andrew,]] and not in the funny ComedicSociopathy kind of way. By the end of the film he doesn't mind killing people left and right just because he ''can''.

%%* BondBreaker: Ultimately, [[spoiler:Andrew, for choosing to take his father's BreakingSpeech on "they're not your friends" to heart]].
* BulletCatch: Andrew successfully does this while [[spoiler: rampaging through Seattle, catching massed automatic fire from a SWAT team]].

* {{Narcissist}}: Andrew is a curious case with his always-rolling camera. What started as a way to keep his abusive father at bay gradually turns into the boy filming more and more of ''himself'', all while he's slowly [[spoiler: going down the ProtagonistJourneyToVillain]]. By the final, during [[spoiler: his rampage over Seattle]], he steals random cameras and have them circle around himself for the sake of filming all his stunts.

* NeverMyFault: Richard blames Andrew for the fact that [[spoiler: his wife and Andrew's mother dies from not receiving her medication. In truth, Andrew had attempted to go and get the medication from the pharmacy, but did not have the funds for it, as Richard had been wasting the money on alcohol.]] Richard's inability to accept responsibility for this [[spoiler: is the final catalyst for Andrew's rampage, starting with Andrew attempting to kill him while [[VillainHasAPoint pointing out his constant abuse made him this way to begin with]].]]

* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: Averted. [[spoiler: Matt noticeably uses his telekinesis to halt the falling Richard before catching him.]]

* PersonalityPowers: The guys all have the same powers, but each of them is proficient in one specific usage of them. Steve, the free spirit, is the first one to figure out flight. Andrew, the abused kid with tons of pent-up anger, is best at moving and controlling stuff. Matt, who is the most cautious about the use of his powers, develops his telekinesis more slowly than the others, and mostly excels at using it defensively.

* RealityEnsues:
** The whole film is this to ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' and other teen superheroes. [[spoiler: In that story, the angsty teenage outcast who gets superpowers winds up learning about his great responsibility and heroically fighting all manner of dastardly evil. Andrew, however, acts exactly like one would expect an angsty teenage outcast to act when given superpowers. It doesn't help that instead of an Uncle Ben, Andrew is stuck with an abusive, raging alchoholic for a parental figure.]]
** As the only one who [[spoiler:both survives and learns his lesson]], Matt is a {{Reconstruction}}. Also, [[spoiler: considering that he actually cares about his cousin and was trying to steer him in the right direction, he might be the real Uncle Ben of the story.]]
** The movie also plays things much more different than classic depictions of teens displaying their powers. In the mall, while the three kids are [[{{Superdickery}} just messing around,]] it's pretty funny and cool to see their powers. During [[spoiler: the trucker scene, it is ''decidedly'' not funny.]]
** From the POV of an innocent bystander the battle between Matt and Andrew isn't glorious. It's outright terrifying as the civilians spend the majority of the battle running for their lives while Andrew came dangerously close in leveling an entire city.

* SecretIdentity: Subverted. [[spoiler: Andrew goes out to rob the neighborhood thugs dressed in his father's old fire-fighting gear with face-concealing mask]]. [[RealityEnsues They recognize him instantly by his voice and his distinctive backpack]].

As they practice with their abilities, they get stronger with them, and learn to [[FlyingBrick fly and protect themselves from harm]]. They don't exactly make the instantaneous choice to become heroic pillars of justice, and instead use their powers for random pranks and goofing around, as teen boys do.