THE TOMORROW JOB (2023)

THE TOMORROW JOB (2023)

Tagline: Time changes everything.

(Action, Sci-Fi, Time Capsules) [R]

Note: This movie did not get an MPAA rating, but I am going to say it would have gotten an [R]. 

Well, that and some newly created muscle relaxers…
What’s wrong with them?
They’ll kill you. 

In this one, Lee Warner has basically gotten addicted to an illegal time travel drug that allows you to travel into the future to a specified time and inhabit your future body. This is known as conciseness time trading (CTT). Warner’s brother is dying and he is trying to get enough money for his treatment. This leads to him forming a small team of thieves to pull off heists. Lee’s rules have allowed the team to operate for a long time without interruption, but someone is now aware of what they are up to. Each time jump begins to get more and more dangerous. 

Acting wise the only real known actress I knew prior was Catharine Daddario (MONSTEROUS) who is Alexandra Daddario’s younger sister. She’s been acting since 2008 and plays Cici in this but only gets about 2 minutes of screen time in this film so this is not the movie to watch if you are watching it because you are a fan of hers. Grant Schumacher plays Lee Warner and does a decent job. Not a great one. Interestingly enough Catharine and Grant we both in MONSTEROUS, THE RETREAT, and LAKE ARTIFACT together, so they are definitely used to working together. Caitlin Duffy (MY BEST FRIEND’S DEAD) who plays Finn was my favorite character in this; she is basically the voice of reason. Caitlin is solid, so that’s a plus. Since everyone in this movie seems to be connected Schumacher was also in MY BEST FRIENDS DEAD. Then Ariella Mastroianni wraps up the main cast as Sophia. She is actually pretty decent in this and was also in DAWN OF THE BEAST and MY BEST FRIEND’S DEAD with Schumacher. Because of course, here they all are, just a bunch of jerks hanging out in movies together. Kidding. 

Where this thing gets janky is in the jumbled way they tell the story. I never mind getting into deep sci-fi, but when you really don’t explain anything on a level that makes any sense, it can get really annoying. If this was a comedy, I probably wouldn’t care, but the movie is asking us to take it seriously and to be honest the writing is just a freakin mess. We do get a few dry humor lines that lightened this thing up, but it’s very late in the movie. 

Because of the weird way this story is told, everything comes across as a bunch of spliced-together shorts. So far if you are still reading this you know it’s pretty much a dumpster fire so far, but this movie is not without its positives. 

I actually grew to like these characters as the film moved along. The concept of conciseness time trading is actually pretty freakin cool because you can’t run into yourself. Not a lot of the movie is wasted trying to get around that problem. What does happen though is that the more you take the drugs the more you lose your grip on reality. It’s basically the same problem you will have if you watch DUNE too many times and fail to recover from the boredom coma it puts you in. Some of the late reveals add to the film's storyline and we do finally get a huge chunk of this thing where the storyline isn’t falling all over itself like a soccer player trying to draw a foul. We also got a decent soundtrack, muddled by the terrible score.

Overall it’s a chore getting to the payoff in this film, but overall I enjoyed it given all of its flaws. I do wish they had used the cool eyewear they gave the villains at the beginning of the movie, but it wasn’t enough to knock my rating down. This is a 3 out of 7 that very nearly could have been a 4 if they had taken a few extra minutes to explain how the drug worked and made most of the movie straightforward, the concept alone was enough to have kept it interesting. There are also a few loose ends that make no sense whatsoever. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF TRAVERSE MEDIA AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.