'Synchronicity' Review (from the Toronto After Dark Film Festival) (1 Viewer)

[Yavin]

The time travel thriller Synchronicity just played at Toronto After Dark, and while I have to admit I was looking forward to seeing this, the film itself was ultimately a disappointment.


Here's a quick summary of my review, followed by a link to my capsule review at the bottom:

If you're familiar with '80s music, you might guess that Synchronicity is a movie about the popular '80s band The Police. On the contrary, it's actually a sci-fi thriller about a physicist (Chad McKnight) who takes matters into his own hands — sending himself five days into the past — when a cutthroat venture capitalist (Michael Ironside) attempts to steal the intellectual rights to his prototype time machine. The premise is interesting enough, and writer/director Jacob Gentry tries admirably to make it work. Unfortunately, the film falls apart under its own weight, constantly struggling to capture the audience's attention with its nebulous narrative, straight-to-video performances, and a production design aesthetic that attempts to pay homage to Blade Runner but instead comes off more like a cheap imitation. Make no mistake, there are still plenty of good stories left to tell in the time travel genre (just look at last year's Predestination, for example). That being said, the out-of-sync Synchronicity isn't one of them.

My capsule review from Toronto After Dark (2 out of 5).