Review of Synchronic (2020) by 4Everafter — 21 Dec 2022

This is a goofy film that tries to present itself as serious.

Drug related sci-fi films are hard to pull off. They usually end up a bit cringe. Limitless is one of the few exceptions.

Synchronic starts off strong. I like the weirdness in the beginning and the mystery of what is happening to the drug users... unfortunately, the mystery was completely resolved about halfway through the film.

The main character explains to the camera (blatant exposition) what the drug does.

Who is he making the film for? There's no drugs left for anyone else to take - he somehow knows he has the last pills in the world - so who is he explaining the rules to?

If he only has half a dozen or so doses - and they are the last doses in the world - why use half of them up before even attempting to rescue the girl?

Why not take a weapon with you, or a helmet, or *something*. He has no idea where he is going to end up. He knows for a fact that people have been brutally murdered travelling back in time. So why not protect himself?

There is so much that doesn't make sense.

The acting is reasonable, but never great.

The special effects are good, but - ultimately - this doesn't differentiate the film from all the other spectacular blockbusters out there.

I was getting distracted watching this film. It took me two days to watch it and I kept pausing it and going to do other things. It failed to engage me.

It has some moments. I liked the scene with the black guy going back in time to a super racist era full of white rednecks (the true potential here was squandered)... but there are also really dumb parts like with the caveman in the snow.

Overall, it's a bit of a mess.

I don't care about any of the characters, at all.

The title - Synchronic - doesn't fit the film. It sounds like a strain of Indica.

The drug doesn't seem to actually have any drug-like effects. It just takes people back in time for seven minutes.

How does the world not already realize that a time-travel drug exists?

Not a single person who has taken it made a Youtube video?

Why would junky types want to take a time-travel drug?

I don't think the person who wrote this has ever had DMT. If it wasn't for their previous films, I wouldn't have been surprised if they've never had any drugs at all.

Synchronic isn't trippy. It has nothing to do with DMT or psychedelic drugs... or drugs, in general. It's a time travel film and it isn't a good one.

This film should've taken itself less seriously. There are ample missed opportunities for humour and self-awareness.

I've still got 23 minutes left. Finishing the movie feels like a chore.

I'm right on the fence with this one. If it is just (only just) watchable, IMO.

Benson & Moorhead's other films (Resolution, The Endless) are MUCH better.

EDIT So, the end doesn't make sense either. Has Brianna been on that battlefield for two weeks? What has she been eating/drinking? How has she survived? If she hasn't been there for two weeks, wouldn't they both appear by the boulder at the same time? Also - if time passes very slowly - why don't they find out where the drugs were made? That professor guy couldn't have pressed all of them himself, so the suicide doesn't fix that plot hole. We're just supposed to believe that these are the last pills and there will never be any more, even though (presumably) many people would still have some left over? The professor went around and bought all the ones from shops, but he didn't retrieve the ones that had already been purchased. It isn't explained why it's absolutely not possible to ever get any again. If it was me - and my best friend sacrificed himself to save my daughter - I'd do everything I possibly could to find way to save him. The whole thing is flimsy. The brain tumour thing is forced drama and it doesn't work. Maybe if I cared about the characters, I would care... but I don't, and I don't. The drama is completely valueless. If this was an episode in a sci-fi anthology series (like Room 104), it would be a bad episode.