‘Synchronic’ is what I love about science fiction | movie review

Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson are perhaps one of the most underrated indie filmmaking duos working today. Their specific brand of high-concept but endearingly down-to-earth science fiction storytelling has brought us great films like The Endless, Resolution and Spring. However, so much of what makes them successful is their low-fi approach to sci-fi. Partially from choice, but mostly because of their budgetary constraints. It forces them to be more clever with their directorial choices and storytelling.

However, with Synchronic, their biggest step forward into the mainstream, they have the resources to go all the way with their concept of a drug that makes its user travel through time—complete with high production values and two A-list stars above the title. And in some ways, it removes the charm that has made them so successful up to this point. However, in others, it removes the restrictions that would have prevented them from going full tilt otherwise. The results are decisively mixed.

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The first thirty minutes of the film, though, represent the best of the duo. We're immediately dropped into a mystery where two paramedics, Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan), begin to encounter increasingly odd calls. In one, a man was impaled by a sword that looks to be from the 1600s. In another, a woman was bitten by a snake that hasn't been seen in the area for a decades—maybe more. The only thing they have in common is in both cases the victims were high on a drug called “Synchronic.”

The story, moving swiftly between scenes showing the drug's unique effects—the duo also edited the film, quickly sets up that Steve and Dennis have been friends for since high school and know more about each other than anyone else. They're so close, in fact, that when Steve finds out he has a brain tumor that will likely kill him with in months, his first reaction is to figure out how to tell his family—in this case, Dennis.

Though gorgeously atmospheric through Moorhead's moody cinematography and Jimmy LaValle's synth-heavy score, almost verging on horror, Synchronic maintains an immensely watchable tone. Moorhead and Benson's signature dark humor is embedded just beneath the surface and Mackie handles it with ease. His emotional turmoil from his diagnosis coupled with his newfound interest in the source of “synchronic” is a masterclass in showing instead telling.

The duo's entanglement with the drug gets even more complicated when Dennis' teenage daughter Brianna (Ally Ioannides) goes missing after taking “synchronic.” With nothing to lose, Steve buys all the remaining supplies of the drug and learns from the creator that it shifts time for the user, but only with specific parameters. The rest of the movie is structured as a series of experiments where Steve attempts to understand how it works in the hopes that he can use it to save Brianna from whatever time she has become stuck in.

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Steve's exploits with “synchronic,” that are presented as a series of taped experiments, are exactly what I love about science fiction. What Moorhead and Benson excel at is taking a concept—one that we may have thought of ourselves—and exploring it, not as a high-concept, but instead as a simple romp based on “what-ifs.” And the world that they build in Synchronic is ripe for multiple fun excursions.

Unfortunately, the movie never takes it as far as you want it. It comes close. Steve's brush with the indigenous people of the New Orleans swamps or the early 20th century when people probably weren't as keen on a Black man appearing out of nowhere in their yard are interesting applications of the possibilities. But when the story looks to wrap up, it retracts and becomes small again. I almost wish 30 minutes was added on to the running time just so we could watch Steve play in the possibilities.

The final act is really where Synchronic falters. It hits the correct beats, but doesn't add enough tension or suspense—something that Moorehead and Benson excel at in the first third. However, their careful character mapping and emotional arcs payoff—again thanks to Mackie's awards-worthy performance. Even so, Synchronic is the exact kind of science fiction I love—eerie, entertaining, complex but full of humanity.