Watching the trailer for Synchronicity was an experience. Visually and aurally, it harkened back to Blade Runner in all the right ways. It has a heavy feeling of science fiction noir, complete even with a purported Femme Fatale. The voice over promised an interesting story about time travel in a cyber-noir setting and the inclusion of Michael Ironside certainly didn’t hurt the appeal. This movie suffered from creating high anticipation and failing to deliver the pay off.
The story follows Jim Beale who is on the verge of creating time travel by opening a wormhole. The opening scene, accompanied by cinematic Vanglisesque music, shows the apparent success of this endeavor. Beale then meets Abby, the story’s attempt at a Femme Fatale, outside his lab just as Klaus Meisner, Beale’s financial backer, pulls up to check on how is money is being spent. From here the story spirals into corporate back stabbing, time paradoxes, and the sad failure to produce on the movies promises.
I would recommend watching Synchronicity to anyone who is interested in seeing a modern take on the kind of cinematography that made Blade Runner, Dark City, and The Matrix standout as films. The cinematography, sets, film locations, and CG work well together to create a remarkable atmosphere, which is only strengthened by the excellent soundtrack. In fact, they should release the soundtrack separately as an OST, if you want my humble opinion.
The acting on the other hand left a lot to be desired. Michael Ironside is an excellent villain and despite weakly written dialogue he manages to come across a force to be reckoned with. He brings life to this cardboard creation of a villain, driven only by money. The rest of the cast doesn’t managed to perform as well with the poor script however, and they come off as forced, or disconnected from the immersive world that they inhabit. One of the most frustrating things for me was watching as the mysterious and devious Abby, becomes less and less interesting as more is revealed about her. The story too, suffers from being poorly written. It almost feels like the director had these great atmospheric ideas and tried to force as poorly developed plot and characters into it. That being said, there are some interesting scenes where Beale deals with the paradox that he creates by traveling into the past to encounter himself in a kind of time loop situation.
Synchronicity is definitely worth a watch, but just go into with the right level of expectations. This is a film that feels higher budget than it is and the low budget rears its head in the writing and actors performance.
Synchronicity – 5/10
