Synchronicity

Reading some of the other reviews, mostly focusing on the fact that the movie seems to be almost Bladerunnerish, they do not actually address what the movie is. So what that it has a musical and emotive reflection in a style that reminds one of a silver screen masterpiece? Many rappers have best-sellers based on the borrowed riff or refrain from an eighties classic. And they pull it off. The question is - did this movie get a fair shake in being rated as average? This simply means that some liked it and some did not. But slashing it for merely what it reflects is like smashing the mirror on a bad hair day. The movie is a love story. It's a simple plot, and when one sits back and reflects on it, it pulls off the simple plot. It is low budget, yes, but in a good way. Bad CGI and silly effects would not have added to the love story, but to the SciFi wrapper. And who eats the wrapper and writes a review on it? Quite a few people, if I read through them. I enjoyed the movie and the story and the way it unfolds. Perhaps it will not be memorable, but at least it was filling. Worth a seven, I say.

A team of scientist is frantically pursuing a breakthrough in their work. They are developing a kind of black hole back-door to communicate through time and space.

As in most time travel stories, the plot twists and turns and multiple perspectives on the same scene from different angles make up a lot of the fun in these kind of movies. And Synchronicity does this well given the available resources. To be honest, this is not the most sophisticated time travel movie, but it has character and is well-made. It kept me hooked and interested.

Michael Ironside probably is the most appealing name of the cast, he has a minor role as an investor/shareholder in the project. Main characters McKnight and Davis have a nice chemistry together and carry the movie with their performances.

This movie boasts a "sci fi noir" tag and I gotta say, it's a cop out. It's more of a b grade movie than a noir film of any kind.

The soundtrack was repetitive cut and pastes of 80s "sounds" which were super cheesy and just gross. Look back to The Machine for an example of a decent sound track, this sounds like the version done by an inexperienced composer.

The plot it's self is basically what Primer did much better but it had a romance that was essential for the plot to work and unfortunately this writer and the lead actress cannot pull off romance. Don't make a romantic relationship the key to your plot unless you're as good at romance writing as you are science fiction writing. The other aspect of the film, which many unfairly compare to Dark City, is that they use an endless amount of gloss and dark lighting to try to make everything seem dark and gritty. Combined with the music it was just tedious to take in.

Don't get suckered in by the comparisons made to better movies or the "noir" tags.

Not much to say about this movie. The story line was weak. The acting mediocre. But the most maddening thing was the very obvious attempt to reproduce the look and feel of The Blade Runner. In that, it only partially succeeds by making it clear which shots were being replicated (har har).

Deckard's apartment is the most obvious source for the apartments of both the main character and his romantic interest: The light streaming in through blinds of vehicles flying by as an example. The scenes where elevators are moving up and down the external side of a building very much like the Tyrellcorp building elevators is another.

At one point there is a scene where the female love interest is asleep and the physicist is on the left side of the frame backlit. Very very reminiscent of the "do you trust me" scene in The Blade Runner. The apartment intercom is very very much like the scene where Deckard calls Rachel from the bar. Combine all of this with the use of Vangelis-like sounds that never quite go to the right places, and you have the makings of a film that elicits some amount of grief and a yearning for someone to do things right. This is not that film.

If you've never seen The Blade Runner, you need to see it and decide who does this better. Stories are completely different, but the attempt of look and feel is very obvious and ham fisted. If you haven't seen this movie, just go in expecting the quality of a 1990's SciFi original and you will not be disappointed.

Synchronicity is an interesting movie that makes you think. I've seen others movies on the subject of time-travel but few that goes that deep into the subject and explaining it that well.

It's by no mean an easy movie to understand as a whole plot-wise because of the whole time-travel paradox , but it actually illustrate the complexity of it in a very elegant and subtle manner without too many shortcuts.

The movie has its flaws however,some of the plot devices related to the time-travel paradox seemed a little bit too convenient in my opinion, and the ending could have been better. But as a whole I liked the story even though I didn't understand all the details involved. There is also a nice little love story which actually fitted quite well in the overall plot.

The cyberpunk setting wasn't a bad idea for the movie, but I wished they had been a bit more subtle about it. Some of the scenes of the movies were almost screaming "We bloody love Blade Runner" at us. I still liked the style and music but I think it was a bit overdone.

Apart from Ironside all the actors are refreshingly unknown, and do a very good job given the complex story they play.I liked the characters which were both human and interesting.

Synchronicity's story is by no mean easy to grasp , but I enjoyed it. It wasn't overly complicated but still gave me something to think about after watching it. I recommend this movie if you're in the mood for a bit more serious scifi.