In my experience, film festivals serve two main purposes: they allow us to watch movies early, and they let us know what films we should keep an eye out for. As a critic who covers a few festivals every year, I’m usually the guy telling my friends what to put on their radar, but for me, Things Will Be Different fell into that second category. My friend and colleague Sean Parker saw this film at FrightFest over the summer, and he had great things to say about it. His review caught my eye and got me really interested in the movie, so when I got a chance to review it for its theatrical and VOD release, I couldn’t say no.
Things Will Be Different was written and directed by Michael Felker, and it stars Adam David Thompson and Riley Dandy as Joseph and Sidney, an estranged sibling pair trying to reconnect in the most unconventional way possible. They’ve just pulled off a high-risk robbery, and to get away from the cops, they take refuge in an isolated farmhouse with a sci-fi secret.
This place allows them to travel to a different time, and they intend on enjoying a two-week respite there before returning to the present. However, things don’t quite go as planned. Right when Joseph and Sidney are about to go home, they find that a mysterious gatekeeper has blocked off the time portal. He wants them to perform a task for him, and if they don’t, he threatens to kill them.
As you might be able to tell from that plot synopsis, Things Will Be Different stands or falls largely on the strength of its two leads. They’re not the only characters in the film, but they’re the only ones who stick around long enough to make any real difference. They’re in just about every frame of this movie, so if they’re not strong, Things Will Be Different won’t stand a chance.
And thankfully, they’re both fantastic. Adam David Thompson and Riley Dandy are great in these roles, and they also have excellent chemistry together. You’ll really believe that they’ve known each other their whole lives, and seeing them reconnect and enjoy some quality brother-sister time will absolutely warm your heart.
They’re so good I could probably watch a whole film of just these two characters sitting around and talking, but Things Will Be Different has other plans. Joseph and Sidney soon realize that they can’t return home, and the mystery of who or what is keeping them there is utterly fascinating.
Not only are this person’s motives completely unknown, but you don’t even get to see him (at least not at first). He communicates with his hostages entirely through written and recorded messages, and that tactic immediately reminded me of the Lovecraftian creature in Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s Resolution and The Endless.
Now, if you know anything about the filmmakers behind Things Will Be Different, that similarity isn’t terribly surprising. This movie was produced by Rustic Films, Benson and Moorhead’s production company, so it makes perfect sense that it would share some of the same DNA as their films.
But I digress. As I said, this cryptic gatekeeper and his mysterious messages raise a whole boatload of questions, and as the story goes on, that mystery gets deeper and deeper. It’s like a cinematic Hydra, so every time the movie answers one question, two more take its place.
That inscrutable web of secrets grows and grows until you reach the WTF point of no return, but it’s not the only trick Things Will Be Different has up its sleeve. The film also features some genuinely thrilling action, and there’s even a bit of horror as well. At one point, we see a corpse that looks like it died a painful and gruesome death, and the horror fan in me got a real kick out of that visual.
At this point, you might be wondering whether Things Will Be Different ever pulls back the curtain on its tightly held secrets, and thankfully, it does. Granted, it doesn’t reveal too much, so when the credits began to roll, there were still a number of things I was dying to know. But it tells us enough to make sense of the story, and in my opinion, it hits a nearly perfect balance between ambiguity and transparency.
Last but not least, I want to talk about the main theme of this story. Unsurprisingly for a time-travel flick, it’s essentially a mind-bending parable about the things we wish we could’ve done differently in our lives, and when the movie hammers that point home, writer/director Michael Felker really hits you in the feels. We all have regrets about things we’ve done and things we wish we’d done, so I suspect that a lot of people are going to appreciate this heartfelt love letter to a universal human experience.
At the very least, it really resonated with me, so for my money, it’s one of the best sci-fi films of the year. It’s a fascinating story that will appeal to both your intellect and your emotions, and it’s brought to life by two amazing lead performances. Sure, weird movies like this aren’t for everyone, but if Things Will Be Different sounds like something you’d enjoy, I highly recommend that you give it a watch. You’ll be happy you did.
Things Will Be Different is set to hit theaters and VOD on October 4.
