Synchronic - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Synchronic



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Something felt oddly familiar about Synchronic during the first 15 minutes of watching it. The almost surreal filming style, the choice of haunting music, and various other visual cues gave me this odd sensation of being familiar with the movie even though I know I had never seen the 2019 film before. That is until I pulled up the credits on IMDB and it hit me like a ton of bricks. This was the latest film by Benson and Moorehead, duo of film makers who only have a couple of movies under their best. I reviewed their 2017 film The Endless a couple of years back and the similarities between the two movies (in terms of aesthetics and story telling techniques) was mind blowing. I loved Endless as a great indie sci-fi movie, but completely glossed over the fact that Synchronic was their next feature film. I guess it was because they were using Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan as the main actors that through me a bit, considering that they usually use indie no name actors in the 3 previous films they’ve made to date.

Synchronic is hard to describe in some ways, and overly easy to describe in others. The first act sort of has the audience guessing what the film is about, as we see surrealistic imagery that looks like drug induced psychosis (the irony of that description will be apparent in a little bit). We are first introduced to Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan), two paramedics in Louisiana, when they try and rescue a couple of junkies from a street legal synthetic drug known as Synchronic. Nothing is really out of the ordinary besides that Steve is a burgeoning pill addict himself, and has just been diagnosed with brain cancer. However, it’s that brain cancer that fuels what must come next.

You see, the drug synchonic is soon revealed to be a mind altering drug that allows people to experience time non linearly in their head. The only “side effect” is that some people are more susceptible to the drug than others, and instead of simply making them feel like they’re experiencing time differently, it actually takes them OUT of the time they’re in, and shoots them into an unknown part of time. Steve’s brain cancer makes him susceptible to the drug’s rare side effect and becomes a tool for him to find Dennis’s missing daughter, who he now believes is lost in time due to the use of Synchronic.

Endless teased and skirted around with the idea of time travel back in 2017, but Synchronic is a full fledged sci-fi film, just infused with Benson and Moorehead’s trade mark surrealism. The first half of the movie is a bit confusing to watch as we’re wondering just what is going on, but the second half is almost textbook sci-fi to the core. A move which is very welcoming, but also saddening at the same time. I do like that the directing duo decided to make a more mainstream movie with more mainstream actors, but the clever use of misdirection and mystery that shrouds films like Endless is gone here. The subtlety is there in the first act, but the second act is a bit too cookie cutter for the skill set of the two.

Mackie and Dornan do an excellent job at playing the two torn up paramedics (poor Jamie Dornan is type cast by his time in Fifty Shades of Grey) and while the film doesn’t give them a WHOLE lot to work with, they both make the best of their characters. While this is a sci-fi time travel movie on the surface, the real tale is a tale of two brothers (figuratively speaking) who are struggling emotionally. Dennis with the loss of his daughter, and Steve at his impending doom from cancer. The film’s core guiding principals is the relationship and intimacy that the two men have, despite their own problems and flip ups that occur in their life. It’s a nice story, and the sci-fi is actually rather fascinating (at first I wasn’t digging the story, but much like Endless the second half really starts to suck you in), despite some hiccups along the way.




Rating:

Rated R for drug content and language throughout, and for some violent/bloody images




Video:

I looked around everywhere but I can’t seem to find any definitive information on what video sources were use to film Synchronic. I’m guessing digital due to how the film looks in HD, but I can’t really confirm or deny anything. Most likely a variant on the RED or Arri Alexa cameras as those are the easiest to get ahold of for lower budget films like this. I’d also guess that a 2K digital intermediate was used as well, but once again I can’t confirm this. That being said, the film is a heavily stylized flick that relies pretty strongly on milky dreamy sequences interspersed in the more natural looking “present” day situations. There’s a mixture of blue and ash gray for the modern day shots, while the past and the flashbacks show signs of sepia, brown and tinges of tan. Fine details seem to be exceptional for the most part (outside of the few really really hazy dreamlike shots that come and go throughout the film) and black levels are fairly strong. There’s some very obvious digital noise swarming that comes in in the darkest of scenes, but other than that, this is a very accurate presentation to what the dynamic duo were aiming for. Highly surrealistic, but also very artifact free as well.







Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is just as good as the video score is, showing off all the cacophony and craziness of time travel. The rest of the movie can be rather straight forward for a drama, but when Steve finds Brianna back in time things get really interesting. Earth shaking explosions from the war, whistling of bullets overhead, and the low end thump from time shifting is really neat. The track manages to tick off all the correct boxes to make a great track while not really standing out from the rest of the pack either. Great mix all the way round.






Extras:

• Audio Commentary with Directors and Producer
• Making of
• Previsualization
• VFX Breakdown
• Deleted Scene
• Alternate Ending
• Trailers

Final Score: ​

Synchronic is a mixture of surreal art house drama, classic time travel science fiction with a twist, and rather clever storytelling to pull off what would normally be a very cookie cutter film (despite the second half having elements of said cookie cutter to the story telling) that I would have just given a thumbs down to. Moorehead and Benson do a stellar job at making a more globally appealing film than their last efforts, but part of me thinks that going as broadband as they did robbed the film of the duo’s typical onion layer story telling that made their previous works so good. Well Go USA’s Blu-ray is a great disc, with awesome technical specs AND some decent extras for once! It may not be everyone’s cup of sci-fi tea, but the film is definitely worth checking out, especially if you’ve enjoyed films like The Endless.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Jamie Dornan, Katie Aselton
Directed by: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorehead
Written by: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorehead
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: R
Runtime: 101 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: January 26th 2021

Recommendation: Interesting Watch

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review. I will check it out since I saw The Endless.

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review as well. I will also check it out.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

We watched the other night and really enjoyed it.

 

[Michael Scott]

Thanks for the review. I will check it out since I saw The Endless.

The Endless was a great film. This one is good, but just doesn't get as clever as the before mentioned flick. Still a fun watch though. Benson and Moorehead are a rather good directing pair and I've enjoyed all their films to date.

Interestingly enough, Benson is directing the "Moon Knight" TV show coming up soon. Should be interesting as he'll add a much needed sense of surrealism to the Moon Knight story