A delightful mindfuck film, Things Will Be Different tickles the gray matter of sci-fi fans with time-traveling bank robbers stuck in the past.
There are sci-fi films that rely on big effects and spectacle, and there are sci-fi films that rely primarily on an idea to get genre fans’ heads spinning. Things Will Be Different clearly falls into the second category, but that doesn’t make it any less worth seeing for puzzle fans.
The enigmatic science fiction of Things Will Be Different invites you to play with your mind
Indie productions such as Primer or Coherence have proven in the past that a big budget is not necessarily required to deliver convincing science fiction. The really exciting mind games tend to take place in the audience’s brain anyway. And what better way to do that than by playing with time?
Watch the trailer for the sci-fi film Things Will Be Different here
Joseph (Adam David Thompson) and Sidney (Riley Dandy) are brother and sister and share DNA as well as a penchant for crime. Because they are bank robber siblings who get up to some crooked tricks together. After the latest robbery, they flee to a safe house, which is more than just an abandoned building. After turning the hands of a grandfather clock and stepping through an inconspicuous door, they find themselves … in the same house. But in an earlier time. They obviously know what they are doing.
Joe and Sid wait here until the greatest danger has passed. This means they can finally spend some time together again, which has been in short supply recently because Sidney had enough to do with her daughter and her job. The shock comes later: after the waiting period has expired, the time (re)travel suddenly stops working. Instead, they find a safe. Inside, the voice on a dictation machine demands that they commit murder if they ever want to leave here again.
Things Will Be Different is brainwork for sci-fi fans
What follows is a blackmail across time boundaries. Things Will Be Different reshuffles the cards of genre films such as Looper and Butterfly Effect and soon has its main character duo puzzling themselves the longer they are stuck in the past. Is a sadistic villain playing his game with them? Or is one of them even trying to cheat the other out of his share?
Things Will Be Different requires us to work our brains out to understand what is going on here. Instead of over-explaining the past sibling conflict or the future threat, the sci-fi film only feeds us small details that gradually create a bigger picture – scattered breadcrumbs on the path of the time-traveling Hansel and Gretel. But who is the witch or voice that keeps them in the house?
With a perimeter around the house that the two prisoners cannot safely cross, an audio recorder converted into a time-travel phone and a hooded victim who is anything but defenceless, Things Will Be Different skillfully keeps its audience on the edge of their seats. You still need to be patient with the many clues that remain incomprehensible for a long time, as the majority of the sci-fi puzzles are only solved at the very end.
Mindgame: The sci-fi movie is worth the wait and the puzzles
When there are finally answers after 90 minutes, it was definitely worth the effort for the emotional circular reasoning. Even the title of the sci-fi film takes on a new meaning.
Incidentally, the fact that Things Will Be Different was co-produced by The Endless duo Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson is evident in the film. It’s no coincidence that Michael Felker worked as an editor for the two cult directors for a long time before making his own feature film debut. Just like his colleagues, the mindgame story unfolds far beyond the initially very manageable framework (of almost just one set) and understands that the human puzzles in a sci-fi setting are often much more exciting than technical time travel explanations or great effects.
