Trippy sci fi thriller with some interesting visuals, but the story felt unexplored, very messy and somehow rushed and unnecessary long at the same time.
Also, the first half of the movie was so weirdly and choppy edited for some reason
I liked it. Sure, there was much about the film's concept that was unexplored and it could have been longer. But for the most part it was great, with an imaginative story and a couple of heart wrenching moments.
I was very excited to see this movie because I'm a big fan of The Endless and Resolution. But I have to say that this film was a let down.
Predictable ending, something different, a fine cast and decent idea. I enjoyed it!
3 Thoughts After Watching ‘Synchronic’:
That must have been the bleakest film I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Absolutely depressing, with verrry little levity. And they had to throw in a heart-wrenching dog moment for good measure.
Albeit incredibly heavy, it was a solid, interesting, original story. I would never watch it again lol, but I was definitely intrigued once things really started going.
The science of it all definitely requires you to suspend your belief, and that’s fine. I was just a little confused by the timey-wimey logistics, and why Steve seemingly couldn’t make it back in the end. He said that the present could serve as an anchor. Couldn’t Dennis have been that anchor as he held his hand? I’m just a tad lost on the ending.
Some of the script work in this is truly awful, and Mackie and Dornan sound like people who've never spoken to each other until filming began. So stilted, awkward and unnatural, it really pulls you out of scenes that are supposed to be emotive, especially when coupled with the lesser acting ability of the main stars of the cast. That being said, Synchronics sci-fi hook and visual effects are enough for me to overlook the stretched drama sections, as the concept and execution are fun and gripping to watch playout. Decent, and probably right in line with what I expect from Benson and Moorhead; high concept sci-fi with rough production values that somehow punches above it's budget even with all it's drawbacks.
I would have rated this higher but the first 30 minutes was terrible. I am glad I stuck with it. It didn’t seem like anyone was interested in being in this movie. Seemed like bad acting, editing and directing until the real meat of the story kicked in. It could have been so much better, In the end, the concept was cool but it was weird how nonchalant everyone was. Reminded me a little of an Eddie Murphy bit from Delirious. “That’s peculiar…there’s blood in the toilet…”
Good concept, they could've made it so much better
There are very good ideas here, accompanied by mesmerizing style. Compared to their previous work, this one plays a lot more with the visual aspects. However too much of the film is bros hanging out in strip clubs talking about life and there's just something that doesn't quite come together with this one. It's a bit too Nolan-esque for me and I'm not a fan of Nolan's work. Anthony Mackie does an amazing job, there's glimpses of loss and stress that feel realistic, though I can't say the same about Jamie Dornan. He's a little dull and one dimensional. Not their best work but still a decently made time travel film.
It's pretty good, but not spectacular. The story moves at a brisk pace, never bogging down - in fact, the movie flew by, so that proves it is engrossing. Can't really fault it other than the predictable ending. 8.5/10
I loved the premise. The acting was good. The pacing was slow. I liked the special effects. All in all not horrible.
a pretty cool premise, with good leads and a story development that made sense and got me invested in the characters. the ending though is pretty weak compared to the rest, particularly in the fx department, so overall i can only recommend if you like sci-fi or you're like me and really invested in jamie dornan's existence.
After a while I had some time to watch a movie and chose this one. Well, it wasn't the best choice. The plot looked good but the way it was filmed is really bad. I had to skip some boring parts and I absolutely didn't understand the end of the movie. Why happened what happened. When he traveled with the dog, his watches beeped but he wasn't at the right place. So he waited for I don't know how long, then moved to the place and got teleported. Why at the end she needed the pill and he left in the past? It was enough to get to the stones, touched her and the stone and bring her back. Maybe I missed something, don't know. That way or the other, it's not a good movie. Rather go e.g. for older but better Butterfly effect.
I went to see this at the London Film Festival and was so excited to see a genre of film that I'm not normally a fan of. I went in sceptical but open minded due to Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead already having a large fanbase because of their other works. I was not disappointed and came out thoroughly satisfied with the plot, character development and the relationship between the 2 leads. The plot was very different and was unlike anything I've watched before. 5 minutes into the film and I already could not wait to see where the story headed. It gave nothing away as to how it would end and you were left guessing up until the last few minutes of the film. Admittedly, I went purely to see Jamie Dornan (guilty) but enjoyed Anthony Mackie's performance. He is the main lead, with Jamie being the secondary. The relationship between both their characters ranged from good humoured banter, to frustration and compassion with many other things thrown in between. Very excited to watch this again and to hopefully see other things I didn't notice first time around
I sat in the same spot the entire time.
https://boxd.it/2uyFYF
I enjoy M&Bs films and this is no exception; however, for those (like myself) pulled in w the promise of a sci-fi starring role, you'll be disappointed to learn it is merely a supporting player in a melodrama amongst two paramedic friends. The main idea here would play great as a tv series , but like others have mentioned stuffing all the character drama they wanted to in a 95 min feature left too little to explore the SciFi elements. Still, very good work from Mackie. Glad I watched it. 6.5
Watchable. Forgettable.
There is a whole level of relationship between Steve and Dennis. At least in theory. You can see they did the work on that, at least in the script, but it feels shallow in the end result. Something does not work. Same with Dennis' couple issues. And this directly removes all extra depth the movie could have had. Leaving just the sci-fi concept in it, and making the first part a bit boring.
The sci-fi part is rushed, like, a lot.
So a drug that can send you physically into the past ? Yeah sure. I mean sure, for the viewer it's kinda expected after the intro and the first body. But for Steve ?? Well, let's conveniently send the guy who made the drug to explain everything so that he believes it in a second. And well he then conveniently disappears with every sample left.
His experiments are very quick too. Note that whenever/wherever he appears, there is always someone there to try to kill him with a sword, a knife, a spear or a rifle. What an incredible country this is.
Ending is 100% what you would expect. No effort or surprise there.
Feels like a bit more could have been made with that. One way or another. It's weird. It's built like a drama where the sci-fi part is just a totally rushed excuse for the development of the characters' stories and relationship. But since the whole emotional dimension kinda fails, we're left with an underused concept with a poor story and cliche script around it.
Took me forever to finally finish this one.
Synchronic has a lot of lofty goals and misses every one of them.
The last of the Moorhead and Benson movies I needed to watch to complete their collection. They really excel in sci-fi and this one is no exception, the sci-fi concept is really interesting: essentially a time-traveling drug. The rules of the drug were well thought out and while the concept is cerebral it isn't as complicated and heavy as their other work, I found it pretty easy to understand. Synchronic mixes and balances sci-fi, thriller, horror and drama really well it satisfied me in all those aspects. It's very character driven, Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan were great and their character's friendship was truly heartwarming. I enjoyed the detective sleuthing on the disappearance of the girl. Some cool camerawork choices and nice-looking effects. The concept does lack some depth and by the middle of the movie it gets hella predictable but this was a very decent sci-fi nonetheless.
Although it could probably stand alone just fine without previously seeing Resolution and The Endless, that shared universe is really what makes Synchronic shine. Well worth the watch.
Pretty good lads. Pretty darn good. Not horror in the traditional slasher sense but it's definitely a well written well done movie that looks good. Mackie has to do a lot of heavy lifting here and he pulls through.
Overall good movie. Story has merits. But logics kept contradicting itself here and there. Cast acted great and storytelling somehow, doesn't boars inspite of the slowness.
Anthony Mackie stars in the science-fiction thriller Synchronic. When a paramedic comes across a new drug that’s killing people he tries to get it off the street my buying out the supply, but when he discovers that it has temporal properties that allows you to travel back in time he begins to experiment with it. Mackie gives a good performance, and the script does an impressive job at exploring time travel as the character learns how it works and what he can do with it. However, the pacing is rather slow and the plot meanders at times; unsure of where it’s going. Yet despite its problems, Synchronic is a compelling film full of intrigue.
pretty dumb, wasn't buying the premise of a drug that physically lets you travel through time
Should have a second part
This is NOT delicious. This movie sucks. Like really sucks. How the hell this crap gets made, I have no idea. Is this Netflix trying to survive? Pretty neat idea. Absolutely garbage follow through. Please watch something else.
Made for an interesting watch. Solid performance from Anthony.
I enjoyed this. The time-travel angle was unique. I would actually love to see more about this in a series format.
How I rate:
1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too
9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!
Stars that bloke from upgrade...
An falcon. From the Marvel Universe...
Seems alright to start...
But its so....
M
E
H
Could've used a little less drama and little more Sci-Fi
It has a good concept and a good theme behind the story which makes it a good movie, but it has some big problems with its pacing, specially after the middle onwards and the ending felt rushed and the conclusion unsatisfactory given how the main plot point was resolved in around 3 minutes.
Some very sweet camera work the first 30mins. The introduction was pretty to watch
Review by CatsyBlockedParentSpoilers2021-02-18T22:33:17Z
I was definitely excited for a sci-fi thriller, but this movie was so underwhelming. The visual effects also looked really bad. I thought there would be more manipulation of time, sort of in the same vein as Gravity/Interstellar(?) but I felt let down by that. This was advertised kind of as a timey-wimey scifi thriller but it's barely that.
Steve and Dennis work as EMTs in New Orleans when they attend to a series of strange calls of people catatonic, seemingly overdosing on drugs, injured in strange and horrible ways. There's a drug being distributed making waves, called Synchronic, that works by manipulating the Pineal gland in your brain. However, by adulthood the gland is no longer functional, so the drug has different effects on teenagers. As one can guess, the story is pretty obvious from here - I was actually hoping there would be more to it, but it was honestly very straightforward.
I felt like the structure of the narrative was overblown - seeing the different conversations about and between Dennis and Steve had almost nothing to do with the drug and the overarching plot. Why do we need to see different snippets of a conversation when the drug takes you to a different timeline IN THE PAST. The drug emphasises how it shows you a different time and how all time is happening all at once - but it literally sends Steve to the distant past at different times depending where he stands when he takes the drugs. None of the timelines are exactly explained. I also felt like the attempts at humour were really poor. Plus the sad moments didn't affect me either. When Steve takes his dog into the past and loses him there - we could have known that without seeing a weird flickering dog whining in the background.
The characters are so self-deprecating but it's just depressing because it plays into the dark tones of the movie. I liked the dynamic between Steve and Dennis but the side characters were not developed that much. I didn't understand the bonding scenes with Brianna or with Dennis' wife. The one scene where Dennis bonds with his daughter over her future - is that meant to explain why she turns to drugs? Anyway, I was just very disappointed by this film. It was trying to be a human and sympathetic story, but I didn't feel the emotions I would have if I had read this as a book. I would say it would be in the same camp as books like The Last Policeman, The Gone World or The Space between Worlds, but it just didn't hit me the same.
I did like the filming techniques and the colours of the different environments.