• Release year: 2024
• Director: Michael Felker.
• Producers: Michael Felker, Jacob Rosenthal, and Shane Spiegel.
• Screenplay by: Michael Felker.
• Cinematography by: Carissa Dorson.
• Music by: Jimmy LaValle and Michael A. Muller.

Shotgun Commentary: pretty good movie with some editing issues but a great story.

Review

Things will be Different is one hell of a trip, a time trip, to be precise. Sidney (Riley Dandy) and her brother Joseph (Adam David Thompson) are running away from the police after committing a robbery. They go to a “safe house” that hides them in another time, leading to a whole array of chaotic, mysterious occurrences that will twist your brain and keep you on alert for the most part of its duration.

Sibling linings

People with siblings will very likely connect with this movie differently than people without. A siblings’ bond is hard to understand if you don’t have that kind of relationship in your life. Sure, when you are very close to a friend you might consider them a brother/sister, but the thing is, siblings are so much more than that, for good and for bad. You’ll never share parents and family dynamics with anyone else, and that creates a unique connection.

The story of Sidney and Joseph is specially engaging when one can empathise with their relationship. This bond makes the film compelling at first, but slowly loses its power overtime. The more the characters evolve, the less sense their relationship makes. The same goes for their decisions and general behaviour. Out of nowhere, you realise that they are fighting. When did the fight begin? Why are they mad at each other?

More questions than answers

Those questions remain unanswered, as does the unknown of what the hell have they been eating during the 352 days when food isn’t featured, or where are they getting their unlimited supplies of cigarettes from. Granted, at least one of the questions is eventually answered, but that is not the norm. Even the million-dollar question that is made on screen merely receives a “Big question, too long to answer”. That is all you will get and, while one can be as a fan of mystery and DIY stories as much as the next guy, there is a level of unknowns after which one begins to wonder if there was any work put into developing a story at all.

The end result, while engaging for the most part, feels like a rushed sketch, like those drawings you begin with lots of energy and adding many details, but eventually get tired and decide to end as quickly as possible. A masterpiece that ends up in a scribble. Granted, the scribble is somewhat interesting, but that is only because the initial concept was, the closer you look at it the more you realise that it is actually a bunch of haphazardly drawn lines instead of an actual coherent form.

Let’s be vague as to avoid spoilers. If you are going to have a dramatic ending that is based on one thing, and one thing only, maybe don’t have a whole conversation about the detail that brings the whole theory down? Also, don’t show three thousand close-ups in-between takes reminding everyone of why your ending makes no sense as it happens.

Feeding the conspiracy

Sidney is quite compelling as a character. She is smart and caring, flawed and rebellious. However, this very generic attributes are not what makes her special, it is her worst trait that truly deserves the attention. Sidney has the strange need to run away or curl up into a ball shaking every time she is shot at.

Now, you might be thinking that is a perfectly respectable reaction. The problem is, we see her carrying and using a shotgun from the beginning of the movie. She’s actually quite good at it, suggesting that she’s had plenty of practice. Plus, she knows she is going to be shot at, so why the surprise? Why the drama? Well, there are two possible answers, either nobody realised the ridiculousness of that reaction for Sidney, or a personal favourite, she’s experiencing an I Origins (2014) moment.

Subjects and surroundings

While both characters are played beautifully by Dandy and Thompson, in comparison to Sidney, Joseph seems to be a lot more simple. A quality that is greatly appreciated considering the eye-catching environment that surrounds him.

The camera movements and frames go all out to make the story positively hypnotising. The colour palettes and editing enhancing the experience further by creating the perfect atmosphere in which to immerse yourself. The perfect example is a blink-and-you–missed-it flashback created with the same shots of the same characters at different ages and a police car light as transition. The discreet but powerful scenery fits just right with the overall tone of the feature.

All in all, Things Will Be Different is a great thriller that captures your attention very early own, but lets you go about half an hour before the ending with its slow pace and unoriginal ending. The downfall of the film sounds dramatic, but the reduction in quality is small enough to make it worth watching if you are a time-travel thriller fan.

Advice to take from this movie:

• Don’t comply to random stuff without looking into the terms of service.
• Make sure you kill your assailant before you start tinkering with their outfit.
• Random people shouldn’t just have access to guns, they could end up stuck in a time loop!

What’s your take? Have you watched Things Will Be Different? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀