Synchronic – Stunning Concept
Director: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead
Writer: Justin Benson (Screenplay)
Starring: Jamie Dornan, Anthony Mackie, Katie Aselton, Ally Ioannides, Bill Oberst Jr, Natasha Tina Liu
Plot: Two New Orleans paramedics’ lives are ripped apart after they encounter a series of horrific deaths linked to a designer drug with bizarre, otherworldly effects.
Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Synchronic starts as we meet two paramedics, Dennis (Dornan) and Steve (Mackie) who deal with long shifts and injuries, illnesses and deaths on their routines. Steve does find himself getting some bad personal news, while the pair start to see an increased number of strange cases and injuries coming their way.
Steve starts to look into what happened to Dennis’s daughter Brianna (Ioannides) who vanishes suddenly, leading him to start taking a drug that others a different worldly experience, one that could see him try and find her.
Thoughts on Synchronic
Characters & Performances – Steve is one half of a paramedic team, the bachelor of the pair, he has a reputation for being a ladies man and doesn’t mind this, when the cases the pair are called to start becoming strange, he starts to investigate more and when it gets personal, he starts to dive into the drug world to learn about a new drug that will give him an experience unlike anything anyone could imagine. Anthony Mackie takes this leading role and runs with it, showing us the confusion and determination to learn his character goes through, trying to explain everything. Dennis is the married partner of Steve’s he has a rebellious teenage daughter and a new baby, he relationship is becoming more strained with his wife, he is trying to fix everything, feeling helpless when his daughter goes missing, pushing Steve away, until he becomes the only one who could answer the mystery. Jamie Dornan is strong in this role, with his role feeling smaller, while Mackie gets the bulk of the most interesting side of the film. Brianna is the rebellious daughter that has a strong friendship to Steve who she sees as an Uncle figure, along with her father Dennis, she does disappear, causing the two to try and figure out the truth. Tara is Dennis’s wife that knows why Steve isn’t always welcome around her friends, she does go through the same struggles as Dennis when their daughter vanishes. Katie Aselton and Ally Ioannides fill these two roles, where they might not get much screen time, but their importance drives the story.
Story – The story here follows two paramedics that are dealing with a strange amounts of injuries, that don’t make logical sense and when one of their family members goes missing, it drives them down a hole with answer they never expected. This story does bring us an interesting concept that will become intriguing as, we could see everything going anywhere through the film. The journey Steve gets to go on could simply go anywhere, which will easily engage the audience that want to see just where the next step will go, it does lead us to not wanting to talk to much about how this happens, but the experiment side he conducts, keeps us enjoying how it would unfold.
Themes – Synchronic is a sci-fi film that is mind-bending taking us to a place we wouldn’t even imagine it could go, taking the settings all over the place, which will only keep us wanting to see more.
Signature Entertainment will release Synchronic on home premiere January 29
Synchronic is one of the most mind-bending movies you will see, continuing to show the talents of the directing pair, who will constantly challenge the audience.
