MORE TO WATCH
SYNCHRONIC (15) ★★★★★
PARAMEDICS Steve Denube (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis Dannelly (Jamie Dornan) work the late-night shift in New Orleans. Increasingly, the two men respond to calls where victims have taken a designer drug called Synchronic engineered by Dr Kermani (Ramiz Monsef ).
Steve attempts to prevent further casualties by purchasing the remaining tablets just as he contemplates his own mortality: he has an advanced stage brain tumour and could die in as little as six weeks.
When Steve learns that Synchronic could be a time travel pill linked to the disappearance of Dennis’ daughter Brianna (Ally Ioannides), the terminally ill paramedic takes one dose to experience the head rush.
“The present is a miracle,” he gushes to his shell-shocked partner.
Co-directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, whose previous film was the mindbending sci-fi thriller The Endless, Synchronic continues to indulge the film-makers’ fascination with the fluidity of time.
A neat central premise builds a dramatic head of steam, allowing for some visually arresting flashes as Steve travels to different eras and learns that the past can kill.
The plot skirts uncomfortably close to preposterousness in a hurried final act but Mackie’s sincere performance papers over some of the cracks. Dornan is side-lined for extended periods and when the narrative requires his support, there’s not a great deal of emotional heavy lifting required from the Fifty Shades actor.
■ Available from Friday on digital
TWIST (12) Preview
RAFF LAW stars in this bold reimagining of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist which updates the thievery and betrayal to the mean streets of present-day London.
Twist, played by the son of actors Jude Law and Sadie Frost in his first big role, is a gifted street artist, who captures attention with his spraypainted murals and repeatedly slips through the fingers of the police.
He is befriended by Dodge (Rita Ora) and Batesey (Franz Drameh), two lieutenants of criminal mastermind Fagin (Sir Michael Caine), who takes from the rich to give to himself with the help of a small army of wastrels and orphans.
Twist joins the crew and is immediately enamoured with free runner Red (Sophie Simnett).
She pushes Twist to the limit as Fagin orchestrates the daring theft of Hogarth paintings from Dr Crispin Losberne (David Walliams).
The plan is complicated when local thug Sikes (Lena Headey) muscles in on the deal. ■ Watch from Friday on Sky Cinema