Synopsis
Two New Orleans paramedics' lives are ripped apart after encountering a series of horrific deaths linked to a designer drug with bizarre, otherworldly effects.
Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead.
Written by Justin Benson.
Starring Jamie Dornan and Anthony Mackie.
Released No general release date set.
Review
This was much more subtle than I expected and it had surprisingly emotional times too, but then we know I'm a wreck in general at films.
Two paramedics encounter a series of strange callouts that have one thing in common, a small packet labelled "Synchronic", a drug that seems to have lethal side effects. When they reach a party and find some kids who've been using it they realise that Dennis' daughter was there and may have taken the drug and is now missing. Steve makes it his mission to stop this drug's spread and see if he can work out what happened to Brianna.
I'm not sure quite what I expected from the synopsis, it didn't sound like it was going to be very sci-fi, and it wasn't... but it was. I know I'm not making sense. It felt much more like a crime drama than something with sci-fi in it. The sci-fi action blended well with everything around it that you almost don't notice it happening. If there was a fence I'd be sitting on the fence.
Anthony Mackie is only someone I've come across in Marvel movies ready so it was nice to have him in something a little different. His role of Steve has a lot of emotions behind it and I thought he managed to capture them really well. There are a lot of hints to something in his story and the balance between what he shows and his reality helped to sell Steve's reaction. This really makes me look forward to seeing him in more films.
Jamie Dornan has only really been on the periphery of my film watching, I certainly wouldn't have been able to tell you any films he's been in, as an introduction to him as an actor I was impressed. Again, there's a lot of emotion as his daughter goes missing and the tensions between Dennis and those around him were just right.
The two together made a great mix as friends, the bond felt like brothers and was an accurate depiction of the relationship and tension that comes with the horrible truth of illness and the burden that holds.
I liked how Mackie's story unfolded. Half the battle with illness is finding a focus and the mystery in this gives him that. He almost appears to be better while deteriorating in other ways. His purpose is a race against time just like his illness and he is able to choose a more noble cause for what may be all the time he has left.
Whether the science behind Mackie's illness is accurate or not I don't know but they give you a plausible explanation to follow throughout. There is however a moment that breaks the idea of the story... I think. Taking the drug sends the young users back in time, when they come down they are brought back to their present. This means that each pill is a two way journey. When he gets stuck in the past because he moves too far away from his incoming destination he figures he needs to take another pill (that he luckily has on him) and travel back. Fine. He does that successfully but he doesn't then acknowledge the fact that in 7 minutes he should be popping back to where he came from, I'd have been up off my arse a going for a run so I didn't accidentally pop back again. The other issue is that in the present when you pop a pill you go back in time... yet when he takes a pill in the past he comes to the present... Oh hell, I've opened up a can of worms thinking about this now.
The way they've done the effects around the sci-fi bits is very good, but massively affecting as you're drawn into the transitions, especially the first time because you don't know what they're leading to. It almost seamlessly blends together and the stages it takes work so well, and as I said above it doesn't feel very sci-fi
Synchronic was a nice surprise of a film, an interesting mix of genres that managed to keep itself from getting too unbelievable.
Two paramedics encounter a series of strange callouts that have one thing in common, a small packet labelled "Synchronic", a drug that seems to have lethal side effects. When they reach a party and find some kids who've been using it they realise that Dennis' daughter was there and may have taken the drug and is now missing. Steve makes it his mission to stop this drug's spread and see if he can work out what happened to Brianna.
I'm not sure quite what I expected from the synopsis, it didn't sound like it was going to be very sci-fi, and it wasn't... but it was. I know I'm not making sense. It felt much more like a crime drama than something with sci-fi in it. The sci-fi action blended well with everything around it that you almost don't notice it happening. If there was a fence I'd be sitting on the fence.
Anthony Mackie is only someone I've come across in Marvel movies ready so it was nice to have him in something a little different. His role of Steve has a lot of emotions behind it and I thought he managed to capture them really well. There are a lot of hints to something in his story and the balance between what he shows and his reality helped to sell Steve's reaction. This really makes me look forward to seeing him in more films.
Jamie Dornan has only really been on the periphery of my film watching, I certainly wouldn't have been able to tell you any films he's been in, as an introduction to him as an actor I was impressed. Again, there's a lot of emotion as his daughter goes missing and the tensions between Dennis and those around him were just right.
The two together made a great mix as friends, the bond felt like brothers and was an accurate depiction of the relationship and tension that comes with the horrible truth of illness and the burden that holds.
I liked how Mackie's story unfolded. Half the battle with illness is finding a focus and the mystery in this gives him that. He almost appears to be better while deteriorating in other ways. His purpose is a race against time just like his illness and he is able to choose a more noble cause for what may be all the time he has left.
Whether the science behind Mackie's illness is accurate or not I don't know but they give you a plausible explanation to follow throughout. There is however a moment that breaks the idea of the story... I think. Taking the drug sends the young users back in time, when they come down they are brought back to their present. This means that each pill is a two way journey. When he gets stuck in the past because he moves too far away from his incoming destination he figures he needs to take another pill (that he luckily has on him) and travel back. Fine. He does that successfully but he doesn't then acknowledge the fact that in 7 minutes he should be popping back to where he came from, I'd have been up off my arse a going for a run so I didn't accidentally pop back again. The other issue is that in the present when you pop a pill you go back in time... yet when he takes a pill in the past he comes to the present... Oh hell, I've opened up a can of worms thinking about this now.
The way they've done the effects around the sci-fi bits is very good, but massively affecting as you're drawn into the transitions, especially the first time because you don't know what they're leading to. It almost seamlessly blends together and the stages it takes work so well, and as I said above it doesn't feel very sci-fi
Synchronic was a nice surprise of a film, an interesting mix of genres that managed to keep itself from getting too unbelievable.
What you should do
Hopefully this will get a release somewhere, it's definitely worth checking out if you like a bit of intriguing sci-fi.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I'm not sure that there's anything in here that would be sensible to take home!
Comments
Post a Comment