Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Synchronic Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 6, 2021

The Endless kinda sorta flirted with science fiction in its tale of a so-called “UFO cult” awaiting the (also so-called) “end of the world”, but what gave the film its visceral immediacy was not any whiz bang special effects but rather the relationship between two brothers, played by co-directors and co-producers Justin Benson (who scripted) and Aaron Moorhead. Benson and Moorhead may have forsaken appearing in front of the camera in Synchronic, but it’s once again the relationship between two guys rather than any amazing special effects (though this film does have some) that gives this tale co-produced and co-directed by the pair (with Benson once again scripting) that also kinda sorta flirts with science fiction whatever real emotional impact it attains, albeit arguably in a bit more contrived fashion than was the case with The Endless. In this particular story the pair aren’t “brothers” in the biological sense, but they’re definitely comrades in arms, with both Dennis Dannelly (Jamie Dornan) and Steve Denube (Anthony Mackie) working as EMTs in a New Orleans riven by the use of a new designer drug called Synchronic. It takes a while for Dennis and Steve to realize the carnage they’ve been witnessing is due to the drug as they show up at a series of locations where people are either already dead or in some cases gruesomely injured in ways that can’t easily be explained. Ultimately adding into the drama are two interlinked aspects: Steve turns out to have a terminal brain tumor sitting atop his pineal gland, and Dennis’ adult daughter Brianna (Ally Ioannides) disappears after having ingested the drug.

The story actually begins with two "red shirts" (to mix science fiction metaphors), a couple in a hotel room who gobble down a kind of chunky white pill with a weird "S" inscribed in it. The guy takes off with an ice bucket in search of cubes, while the woman, obviously stoned out of her mind, sits on the bed staring into space, finally surrendering to an encroaching hallucination (or is it?) that seems to suggest she's in some kind of atavistic desert with a snake about to pounce on her leg while a shaman type looks on approvingly (and menacingly). The guy, meanwhile, has discovered the elevator "opens up" into a hazy vista that soon becomes an expansive desert that he walks out into. With this brief vignette, the film alludes to the fact that the drug being used is at the very least mind altering, and maybe even reality altering, and it is also the first of several patently cool segues depicting what it's like to "come on" to the drug that Benson and Moorhead offer courtesy of a much increased VFX budget they enjoyed on this film.

The relationship between the men takes center stage, but one of the film's arguable deficits is despite offering a rather heady brew of interlocking dramas, things are often surprisingly underdeveloped. Steve is diagnosed with a brain tumor early on, but doesn't tell Dennis. Dennis on the other hand is dealing with a rebellious Brianna, but in yet another unexplained contextual element, he also has a brand new baby with wife Tara (Katie Aselton), in an aspect which seems to be setting up some kind of family discord, but which is never really dealt with. For kind of unexplained reasons, Steve becomes a vigilante of sorts and decides to track down and buy up remaining stock of Synchronic, which, because this film often relies on "reasons" that amount to "just because", has thankfully been relegated to only one shop. In yet another kind of peculiar detour, the drug's creator stalks Steve and actually ends up being given a mid-film "Moishe the Explainer" sequence (replete with drawings on a brochure Steve has been given to deal with his end of life decisions), where he goes into how the drug interacts with the pineal gland (in yet another "convenient" link, since that's where Steve's tumor resides).

The bottom line is Steve decides to experiment with Synchronic, and quickly discovers the pill allows the user to time travel for a few minutes. Steve also discovers that space and time are "linked" in a supposedly Einsteinian way, albeit in this instance in terms of where you take the drug determining where you end up in time. Since in the meantime Brianna has disappeared while on the drug, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if Steve ends up taking the drug by where Brianna did, he might be able to find her and return her to Dennis and Tara. While the drug creator's exposition offers a wobbly reason as to why certain people may get trapped in their "time trip", the entire setup of this film may well strike some as pushing contrivance to the breaking point.

Another weirdly underdeveloped aspect involves Steve's actual time travels. Some, like a couple of visits to the Ice Age, are just weird and kind of inexplicable, but others, like an almost shockingly sanguine slavery sequence, are appropriately hallucinogenic but don't really propel the story in any meaningful way. The film may in fact succeed at least fitfully in building to a melancholic, bittersweet quasi-happy ending, but that may be due more to the efforts of Dornan and Mackie than to the writing and direction.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf was perhaps a bit more positively inclined toward Synchronic than I am. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

Synchronic Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Synchronic is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. While the Making of featurette has a few brief glimpses at what looks like some kind of digital camera, I couldn't see the make or model, and the IMDb doesn't offer any information. I did dredge up some photos supposedly of the shoot that show a Red Camera, but I don't consider that authoritative. I'm assuming this was finished at a 2K DI, but if anyone has verifiable information about either the camera or resolution of the DI, Private Message me and I'll happily post an update to the review. While there has been copious tweaking to the imagery in various ways, the result is often quite sharp and well delineated, though there are intentional downturns in quality with regard to some elements like the videos that Steve takes to document his "travels". There's also a slightly desaturated, grainy look a lot of the time (see screenshot 2), that provides a bit of texture but which may slightly deflate fine detail levels in midrange and wide shots. The CGI documenting the changes in time periods is very well done, and some of the supplements address the technical challenges involved. Despite a number of rather pronounced changes in lighting, I noticed no issues with banding.

Synchronic Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Synchronic features a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that offers its showiest aspects in some of the time traveling moments, as is probably to be expected. Some of the most cacophonous effects come relatively late in the film when Steve finally manages to track down Brianna, but there are a number of outdoor scenes in particular (throughout various historical epochs) where ambient environmental effects dot the surround. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout the presentation. Optional English subtitles are available.

Synchronic Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Directors & Producer


• Making Of (1080p; 15:05) is the first of several supplemental pieces to feature both cast and crew.


• Previsualization (1080p; 8:17) offers Benson and Moorhead with a brief intro and then some looks at previz for the film.


• VFX Breakdowns (1080p; 2:59) has some cool examples of the "rippling" and other effects added to suggest time travel.


• Deleted Scene (1080p; 1:06) features Steve and his doctor.


• Alternate Ending (1080p; 1:28) features Benson and Moorhead again explaining in clear terms that this "alternate ending", like those appended to previous releases of their films, is a joke. They allude to the fact that the previous "jokes" may not have been properly understood as jokes.


• Teaser (1080p; 1:31)


• Trailer (1080p; 2:24)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the supplements have been authored to follow one another automatically (so that clicking on the Making Of featurette is essentially a Play All button). After the Trailer for this film plays, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Synchronic Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Synchronic has some really cool looking visual effects, which kind of ironically may help the film to overcome some of its deficits in storytelling, since there is definitely interest generated with the characters of Steve and Dennis, but perhaps not quite enough information doled out about them to deliver the emotional gut punch that's obviously being aimed for. Fans of The Endless may well want to check this out, and for them the good news is technical merits are solid and this is the rare Well Go USA Blu-ray release with a decent supply of supplements.