Review: ‘Synchronic’
Anchored by career-best performances from Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan, Synchronic is another spellbinding, uniquely original and surprisingly emotional sci-fi thriller from Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson.
Filmmakers Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson have the uncanny ability to create fully fleshed out, completely realized worlds with an incredibly singular vision on a shoestring budget, as made evident by their excellent first three features: Resolution, Spring and The Endless. Their latest film, Synchronic, is no different.
Synchronic centers on paramedics and best friends Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan) who, while on the job, begin to encounter a series of mysterious deaths and incidents that seem to have no basis in reality or the metaphysical. After Dennis’ teenage daughter Brianna (Ally Ioannides) goes missing under similarly mysterious circumstances, the duo soon discover that these strange incidents may have something to do with a controversial new designer drug called Synchronic. After a shocking health-related diagnosis, Steve discovers that he may have the ability to bring Brianna back and he will go to great lengths in order to do so.
While Synchronic has a considerably bigger budget and more star wattage than Moorhead and Benson’s previous three films, it still maintains that same unique voice, those same outlandish sensibilities that made those movies so special and idiosyncratic. Moorhead and Benson have found a well-concocted formula of surrealism and hyperrealism that works for them, filtering real-life horrors and tragedies through a sci-fi lens without forgoing any of the intricacies or nuance of the former. All of their work practically pulses with a carefully sustained and irresistibly heightened sense of unease, a quality that is practically dialed up to the elevens in Synchronic, with Moorhead and Benson establishing an atmosphere of dread that is evident from the opening frame of the film, one that never lets up throughout the film’s 100-minute runtime.
Mackie and Dornan deliver career-best performances in Synchronic, with Mackie in particular displaying layers of sensitivity and pathos that his other directors seldom ever take advantage of, choosing to employ his dry humor and sharp wit instead. Mackie still has his moments of charm and charisma that are sprinkled throughout Synchronic but his performance in the film is a surprisingly emotional one, the seasoned actor going to increasingly dark places – both figuratively and literally – in order to portray his character’s poignant and complex journey.
While Dornan is a more than capable actor, delivering solid performances in projects such as BBC’s The Fall, but he has never found the right role (or possibly the right director) to utilize his talents, with most of his projects choosing to capitalize on his movie star good looks instead of his skills as an actor. By subverting the reliable and one-dimensional “family man” trope, Moorhead and Benson have given Dornan the opportunity to dig deep into his character’s psyche and emerge with a layered portrayal of a broken man who is slowly realizing that the picture perfect life he so carefully planned for his family may not come to fruition.
Synchronic does suffer from some pacing issues, particularly in its middle stretch when it jarringly shifts in and out of flashbacks of Dennis with his family prior to Brianna’s disappearance in the midst of Steve’s more interesting physical and emotional journey, but overall, it is an electrifying, spellbinding and surprisingly emotional movie with fantastic performances from everyone involved.
Rating: 4/5
Synchronicis out now on VOD.