Keeping the idea of time travel and its multi-universal consequences fresh has become quite a challenge for the modern filmmaker. Quantum time travel has been volleyed everywhere from sci-fi indies to star-studded tentpoles, and even in more straightforward drama and horror. The term “Quantum” is everywhere, steadily becoming household vernacular seeping beyond its nerd-centric exclusivity. With the full expanse of time as a canvas, heroes and villains face a bigger battlefield, and the stakes are higher for any protagonist that wants to stop a tragedy that has happened or prevent one that will. Bypassing talking head exposition on the science of it all, Relax, I’m From the Future opens full tilt, and endorphins kick in from the mere hope that there is finally a break from the regurgitative straight faced-seriousness; can we have some fun?
Relax, I’m From the Future does indeed have some fun—at least it starts off that way. This is the story of Casper (Rhys Darby), a time traveler who arrives from the future to the ‘20s without a clear motive. He befriends Holly (Gabrielle Graham), with whom he shares his knowledge of the future so that she can make quick money. But Casper’s actions here may potentially alter the future, and he has to try to right his wrongs while evading Doris (Janine Theriault), another time traveler whose job is to eradicate any threats to the universe’s timeline. There is also a shoe-horned side story of an introverted weirdo artist named Percy (Julian Richings), whose suicide starts the horrendous world event that ignites the future as Casper knows it.
Based on his 2013 short film of the same name, Relax, I’m From the Future is written and directed by Luke Higginson, who does his best to keep things lively, straddling the zany, loose plot and giving his stars room to breathe while making the most of the elongated narrative. For Darby, most recently seen in Max’s pirate rom-com Our Flag Means Death, Casper is a familiar variation on the earnest aloofness that is his signature, and the effortless charm of his performance carries the film as it stumbles across the finish line. Graham (so good in the 2020 sci-fi sleeper Possessor), holds down a far more substantial role as Casper’s friend and confidant. Relax finds an undeniable groove when he leans into the film’s stoner comedy elements, allowing Casper and Holly to indulge themselves as two buddies pontificating on the state of things together. But when the pair part ways for a considerable chunk of the film, the magic trips, triggering an imploding narrative.
The cast rounds out with everyman actor Richings as the introverted borderline incel Percy, whose story arch is flip-flopped on screen in an attempt to pose a risk from the antagonist Doris. Theriault’s embodiment of Doris begs for there to be more screen time for the lonely government sanctioned “clean-up woman,” whose existence is merely to eradicate wayward time travelers who may fudge up the future.
Relax, I’m From the Future becomes an exercise of either too much or too little: a great villain without enough screen time, and two great protagonists who spend too much time not pushing the story forward. By the time the film drags to its conclusion, the frenetic anything-goes energy of its first act is long forgotten and the only way to get that good feeling back is to travel back to the beginning.
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