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Movie Review: Anthony Mackie is Reason Enough to See 'Synchronic'

Anthony Mackie and a clever time travel conceit make Synchronic worth a watch.

By Sean PatrickPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Synchronic is the kind of movie that could have found a niche were it not for COVID-19 destroying so much of the theatrical economy. This sci-fi, time travel flick, starring Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan, has a clever time travel conceit and a performance by Anthony Mackie that likely would have worked at the box office with a good marketing campaign. The film does have a terrific poster, but sadly, COVID-19 will likely limit it’s box office promise. That’s a shame because Synchronic is a movie that deserves a chance to be seen.

Synchronic is the name of a newly available drug on the streets of New Orleans. It’s not an illegal drug, it’s a synthetic that was developed in a lab and it has also recently been discontinued. Why? Well, Synchronic has the unique side effect of sending users back in time. Yes, Synchronic is an accidental time travel drug. Users believe that they are hallucinating as the walls begin to disappear and the world begins to change around them.

Like I said, cool poster right?

For paramedics Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan), Synchronic has made their job interesting. Unaware of the effects of the drug, at first, the paramedics find themselves dealing with victims who’ve been stabbed by ancient swords, bitten by snakes that haven’t existed in New Orleans in centuries, and other sorts of inexplicable deaths where the common denominator is a package labelled ‘Synchronic.’

The plot truly kicks in when Dennis’s daughter, Brianna (Ally Ioannides) takes Synchronic and goes missing. Dennis and his wife, Tara (Katie Aselton) are left distraught while Steve decides he’s going to try to do something about it. After meeting the creator of Synchronic and buying what little is left of the drug, Steve begins to experiment with the drug and discover its secrets. Eventually he determines that he may have a way to rescue Brianna but it all has to work perfectly for that to happen.

Come to think of it, the plot of Synchronic isn’t all that great. It has a rather predictable quality when you write it out. And yet, I didn’t mind it while I was watching it. Anthony Mackie is such a compelling actor that I didn’t mind the more predictable aspects of the story. I didn’t mind the muddy cinematography and general ugliness of Synchronic just because I liked Anthony Mackie enough not to care much about the technical flaws on display.

I also liked the premise of Synchronic. One thing the movie does very well is lay out the rules and the stakes of the time travel conceit in Synchronic. The characters can only go back in time for seven minutes. They must return to the exact spot where they left from or risk not making it back to the present at all. The ticking clock elements worked for me and created the intended tension well enough for me to enjoy Synchronic.

Yes, the movie is more than a little grim and Jamie Dornan is a rather dull presence throughout but, in his defense, he’s not given much to work with. Dornan is saddled with a plot wherein he’s sad that his marriage is so good that he doesn’t appreciate it. That’s a strange beat for any actor to have to play and it renders him as something of a whiner. It’s hard to feel bad for a guy who loves his wife and baby and teenage daughter but still wishes he could sleep around from time to time. Some screenwriters think this kind of character is edgy but I find them exhausting and rather silly.

Still, if you enjoy a good time travel story and if you like Anthony Mackie from his work in the Captain America and The Avengers' movies, you will probably enjoy Synchronic as much as I did. It’s strictly on those terms that Synchronic succeeds but that was enough for me. Synchronic is available this weekend in a very limited theatrical release. It will soon be available for streaming on many services, probably by mid-November.

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About the Creator

Sean Patrick

Hello, my name is Sean Patrick He/Him, and I am a film critic and podcast host for the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast I am a voting member of the Critics Choice Association, the group behind the annual Critics Choice Awards.

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