Things Will Be Different

Wow. What a strong directorial debut! I am really impressed with Michael Felker's efforts here and am excited to see where he goes as a filmmaker. He has an obvious love for science fiction, and after watching this I have a sneaking suspicion he will go on to become a rising and strong voice in genre filmmaking.

The script and concept are really strong here, but for whatever reason this honestly just didn't connect with me as much as I hoped it would. I feel similarly about many of the low-budget efforts of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, both of whom serve as Executive Producers here (fantastic voices in genre filmmaking as well). If, however, you ARE a fan of any Benson and Moorhead films, I'm confident you'll feel right at home here; even if THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT doesn't end up fully connecting with you like it didn't for me.

You'll find some interesting ideas here for sure though. The hook is a strong one and there are a couple fun additions thanks to some twists and turns throughout the story. The pacing can a bit slow though and the sibling dynamic pitched as the heart of tale ultimately fell flat for me. I hate saying that, as I know it came from a personal place from the filmmaker, but I do have to admit it left me feeling cold once the credits rolled. Will that be the case for everyone though? Absolutely not. As with all art, reactions to this will vary, but it's still a film I'd ultimately recommend (unless you've seen TIMECRIMES which this film may or may not borrow too heavily from).

My issues aside, I do stand by this being a strong piece of science fiction (with a dash of horror) and I'd encourage those with interest to check it out and decide for themselves.

RANDOM PRAISE +

• S/O to Carissa Dorson for some excellent cinematography. I'm not sure what the budget was for this but she really made the best of what she had.

RANDOM CRITIQUE -

• This may be a Midwest thing, so forgive my cultural ignorance, but both of our leads casually walk around a parking lot and diner with their rifles, which-if you live in a city like me, may be a VERY jarring visual and reality to accept.

TAKEAWAY ?

• Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

Not sure where the horror was supposed to come in but I'll move on from that

The scifi is time travel and an interesting concept

Now maybe if they script writers could have wrote some interesting things to happen or twists or turns or them finding things but nope

Instead you get to watch almost two hours of two bumbling stupid american siblings argue and act like alcoholics

Then at the end they try to throw in some cheap twist and if anything it ruins any kind of story they were trying to build

Stupid movie - stupid characters - stupid tropes

Honestly even my 4/10 review is pushing it this was a complete waste of time.

Joseph (Adam David Thompson) and Sidney (Riley Dandy) meet up at a diner. They are both armed and carrying a bag of money. They go to a pre-selected farm house. There is a specific procedure of changing the clocks, opening a door, and dialing a phone in the dark. They arrive back to the house which is fully stocked. Their plan is to stay there for two weeks and wait out the cops.

This is a low-budget high-concept sci-fi crime drama. I like the general premise and the curious door procedure to start the story. The problem is that it doesn't entice the audience to invest in these two characters. These are not famous faces and they don't have any exposition. Once things start going wrong, the rules are not clear. Nothing is that clear in this movie. The reveal is the reveal. I expected something like it. It's fine. The overall execution is a bit lacking.

The actors were great, the script not so much. I was bored and falling to sleep watching this dull movie. Confusing storyline that made you not care about the two leading characters. A brother and sister duo hide out in a farmhouse in a psychological thriller masquerading as a horror film. The brother and sister are stuck in a time loop and they can't seem to escape this farmhouse, the movie goes on and on as it tries to explain to the viewers the premise of the characters and film. But as the film ends you still feel like what in the hell did I just watch. A mishmash of me praying will this movie ever end.

The movie's premise was quite good. The siblings hide in a temporal B&B to avoid the law. However, they soon discover that leaving is not as easy as they thought. They can communicate with the people responsible for time travel using a tape recorder locked in a safe. They are tasked with confronting an adversary who appears later in the story.

The execution, however, leaves much to be desired. I agree with other reviewers: the cinematography is excellent, the sound and music are above average, and the acting ranges from superb (the brother) to good but somewhat forced (the sister). The main drawback of the movie is its screenplay. While it has potential, there are super boring parts interspersed with a few sudden twists. Moreover, many elements are either left unexplained or explained in a lacklustre manner.

Despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed the movie. It would have benefitted from being 30 minutes shorter, featuring more realistic sibling dialogues, and providing better explanations for a few key elements, for example, delving deeper into the adversary's identity. Still, it was more than satisfactory for a low-budget flick.

P. S.

A few other movies gave me similar vibes, most notably Timecrimes (2007), The Field (2019), and The Endless (2017).