The Stream: Two movies in one that takes too long to get going

The Big Screen: Remotely original concept led by Anthony Mackie

The Final Bill: A mixture of Don’t Let Go and Limitless that is just puzzling

– S2S: Movie Review
Director: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead
Writers: Justin Benson
Stars: Anthony Mackie, Jamie Dornan, Katie Aselton | See full cast & crew »
Genre: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi 
Rating: R
Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes
Platform: Released Oct. 23, 2020 (Redbox and other movie rental streaming sites)

Let’s talk about catching, Streamers. The best part of pandemic is the ability to catch up on all the junk you’ve missed on TV and movies. So, I finally got to catch a movie I thought sounded interesting in 2019, but it didn’t release until the end 2020. Lord knows I wasn’t spending $19.99 for the rental or risking my life in the theater for this movie, but, Synchronic, here I am. Synchronic is a movie that follows two New Orleans paramedics who have their lives torn apart during some chance encounters with horrific deaths linked to a designer drug. This is the drug of all drugs because the effects are more than bizarre and otherworldly. Check out the trailer below, but let’s see what we got from this free Redbox streamer.

“Drugs are bad, mmkay. Don’t do drugs, mmkay”. That’s the basic moral of this story. I’d go a bit further and say don’t do drugs in New Orleans, but we all know that’s just a hard ask. I mean I know life sucks but after seeing this new drug… life doesn’t suck that bad. Anyway, New Orleans is one of my favorites cities, and I definitely appreciate movies investing in the city after it’s been devastated so many times. That’s really neither here nor there. The storyline in this movie takes a turn from the first 20 minutes to a sci-fi time travel-ly movie. While it was mostly random, it was also endearing and engrossing. It’s one of those things where you enjoy it but you didn’t even know you would enjoy this kind of thing. It’s not quite original but it’s also not something you’ve seen before. The best thing I can give you is that it’s an odd mix of Limitless and Don’t Let Go.

Let’s talk about the cast. First, your boy, Anthony Mackie does his thing. He really does know how to give you the most solemn, callous faces while also simultaneously letting you know he’s going crazy on the inside. It’s a weird and awesome acting talent. Mackie is paired with Mr. Gray himself, Jamie Dornan. Dornan while pretty awful in the 50 Shades of Gray series, not his fault but he didn’t make it better, Dornan looks and feels more normal in this movie. Talk about setting the bar low. Just being normal is a step up in his acting career, smh. Either way, our leading fellas tried their best in this random flick.

Let’s get to it. Synchronic is a film that is hard to judge. It feels like two movies mixed into one which is strangely original but also a failing in itself. Just like the definition of synchronism, the movie displays chronological arrangement of historical events and personages so as to indicate coincidence or coexistence. Just like the definition it’s interesting and boring at the same time, but somehow I just can’t take my eye of it. So grab yourself a handful of popcorn and “enjoy” this puzzling feature.