When New Orleans paramedics and longtime best friends Steve (Mackie) and Dennis (Dornan) are called to a series of bizarre, gruesome accidents, they chalk it up to the mysterious new party drug found at the scene. But after Dennis’s oldest daughter suddenly disappears, Steve stumbles upon a terrifying truth about the supposed psychedelic that will challenge everything he knows about reality – and the flow of time.
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I stumbled across Synchronic while perusing the streaming services looking for something to watch. I was intrigued since it starred Anthony Mackie, who is in the news right now for appearing in Captain America: Brave New World I’d never heard of this film before, and having him team-up with Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of Grey) seemed odd, but I figured I’d give it a shot. So, was this one an undiscovered gem, or was Mackie better suited for playing superheroes?
Anthony Mackie basically gets center stage for Synchronic, and does a good job with his performance. He’s very good at portraying the everyman who faces unusual circumstances, and he’s the viewer’s link to how the story evolves. While his character isn’t really fleshed out with anything but anecdotes and brief flashes of his “normal life,” he still manages to make his character compelling. Jamie Dornan is obviously a bit outclassed by Mackie in terms of acting, but does a decent enough job to keep the story going.
The storyline is pretty intriguing. It revolves around a new street drug that causes what looks like bizarre accidents to happen. But, when a girl close to his character goes missing after taking the drug, Mackiie’s personal investigation leads him to surprisingly interesting results. Synchronic, then, works on two levels – it presents a bit of a sci-fi angle that’s intriguing, all while getting viewers hooked to find out what happened to the girl – and if Mackie can save her. That’s a pretty potent combo, and viewers will definitely want to stick around until the end.
The special effects are pretty well done too, with some impressive transitions taking up the bulk of the budget. Most of Synchronic is basically shot without major special effects, but when they are needed, they are really well done, especially for a film that seems to be a bit lower budget than, say, a superhero movie. So, when they do happen, the special effects are a bit surprising – but their quality is definitely welcome.
With an intriguing story and Mackie doing a solid job of leading the way, Synchronic turns out to be much better than the B-movie I was originally expecting. It’s not as action-packed as one might think at first – it’s more of a sci-fi drama than a sci-fi action flick, and it tends to philosophize a bit too much for its own good. Still, Mackie definitely made a solid choice when he picked Synchronic to star in, and most viewers should be pleased with the end result.
