“Safe House”

★ 1/2 (out of four)

As directed by Daniel Espinosa, marking his U.S. debut, “Safe House” is yet another in a long line of generic action pictures assembled from the Tony Scott model, defined by dark, grainy photography, excessively rapid editing techniques that render action sequences incoherent, and a reliance on useless narrative padding that turns what should have been an 80-minute diversion into a two-hour torture session. I guess there’s not much to say about this approach aside from observing once again that it is terrible and stupid and should be stopped by any means necessary, but it also begs the question: Why? It’s not like Tony Scott movies clean up at the box office, and in fact the countless clones typically do even worse business. So why has this mode of filmmaking, which is constantly lampooned by the public and critics alike and doesn’t even earn its keep by producing reasonable box office results, become so incredibly popular in contemporary Hollywood? This is not rhetorical; I’m actually asking, and hope that someone can shed some light on this. Because I’m stumped.

“Chronicle”

★★★ 1/2

“Chronicle” is full of engaging set pieces: the boys’ initial experimentations in a suburban backyard, hilarious and uniquely charming in a “Jackass” kind of way; their first attempt at flight, which is among the most exciting and visceral sequences I’ve ever seen in a superhero flick; the high school talent show, in which our heroes enrapture their peers with a “magic act”; and, of course, the climactic battle that comes after the most powerful of the three decides to use his powers to lash out at a cruel and unaccepting society. The film sometimes hiccups when trying to be too heavy-handed with the material, but the scenes that do work vastly outnumber those that stumble, and at 80-something minutes the film is a tight, lean little ditty that will knock your socks off with far more vigor than most.