Time Travel movies about time travel
*** SPOILERS *** - this list contains spoilers for some of the movies!
Yeah I know - the name is a bit redundant, but some time travel movies only uses the time travelling as a plot device, like when someone from modern time travels back to medieval times, and learns something about then. This list is for movies that discuss the implications of time travel.
Some of the tropes seen in time travel movies, are:
* Butterfly effect - how a small seemingly insignificiant change can have disastrous effects in years to come.
* Alternate timeline - how a change to the past can change everything happening after that, and create a "fork" in the road with a new timeline, different from what you remember.
* Grandfather paradox - if you prevent one of your ancestors from getting children, you will never be born!
* Timeloop - some event that makes you relive the same timeperiod again and again, with everyone around you, thinking that it is the first time.
* Perfect timeloop - when the timetraveller has to make sure that everything happens as it happened, to prevent a paradox.
* Looping paradox - travelling back in time to prevent yourself from doing something in the past, will remove the need for you to travel back and prevent it, thus making you do it anyway, thus making you travel back to prevent it, etc.
* Product of time - some item you obtain, and bring back in time, giving it to the person you obtained it from - thus making the item looping, but never having been created in the first place.
* Remembering the future - having knowledge of something that happens later in the timeline you are travelling back along.
* Meeting your older/younger self - when you travel to a time where you yourself exists, you risk encountering you from another timeline.
* Being you own ancestor - if you travel back in time, and date one of your ancestors, you might be your own ancestor, perhaps even your own father or mother.
Yeah I know - the name is a bit redundant, but some time travel movies only uses the time travelling as a plot device, like when someone from modern time travels back to medieval times, and learns something about then. This list is for movies that discuss the implications of time travel.
Some of the tropes seen in time travel movies, are:
* Butterfly effect - how a small seemingly insignificiant change can have disastrous effects in years to come.
* Alternate timeline - how a change to the past can change everything happening after that, and create a "fork" in the road with a new timeline, different from what you remember.
* Grandfather paradox - if you prevent one of your ancestors from getting children, you will never be born!
* Timeloop - some event that makes you relive the same timeperiod again and again, with everyone around you, thinking that it is the first time.
* Perfect timeloop - when the timetraveller has to make sure that everything happens as it happened, to prevent a paradox.
* Looping paradox - travelling back in time to prevent yourself from doing something in the past, will remove the need for you to travel back and prevent it, thus making you do it anyway, thus making you travel back to prevent it, etc.
* Product of time - some item you obtain, and bring back in time, giving it to the person you obtained it from - thus making the item looping, but never having been created in the first place.
* Remembering the future - having knowledge of something that happens later in the timeline you are travelling back along.
* Meeting your older/younger self - when you travel to a time where you yourself exists, you risk encountering you from another timeline.
* Being you own ancestor - if you travel back in time, and date one of your ancestors, you might be your own ancestor, perhaps even your own father or mother.
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- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsMichael J. FoxChristopher LloydLea ThompsonMarty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.The Grandfather Paradox - Marty McFly has to get his teenageparents to meet, otherwise he will never be conceived.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsMichael J. FoxChristopher LloydLea ThompsonAfter visiting 2015, Marty McFly must repeat his visit to 1955 to prevent disastrous changes to 1985...without interfering with his first trip.Alternate timelines - The Timemachine gets stolen, and someone else changes the past, thus changing the present, and Marty McFly must travel back to before the change happened, to recreate the known timeline.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsBruce WillisMadeleine StoweBrad PittIn a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.Remembering your own future - a man is sent back in time to prevent a global virus-outbreak. As a child he witnessed some of the dramatic events that occur to himself as a grown-up, but traveled back to when he himself was younger.
- DirectorWilliam DearStarsFred WardBelinda BauerPeter CoyoteA maverick motorbike racer wanders into a top-secret time-travel research test site which unintentionally teleports him to the mid-1800s and ends up having to fight violent outlaws for his survival.Be your own grandfather - a man is sent back several generations, and has an affair with a woman, who turns out to be his own grandmother.
Also
Product of time - he has a necklace that he has inherited from his grandmother, who got it from "a mysterious stranger" she met. - DirectorMichael SpierigPeter SpierigStarsEthan HawkeSarah SnookNoah TaylorAs his last assignment, a temporal agent is tasked to travel back in time and prevent a bomb attack in New York in 1975. The hunt, however, turns out to be beyond the bounds of possibility.Being your own ancestor - as well as a lot of other perfect timeloop complications, where the person isn't always aware that he/she creates the past as it has always been, by trying to prevent things from happening.
Very complex - highly recommended - DirectorColin TrevorrowStarsAubrey PlazaMark DuplassJake JohnsonThree magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified advertisement seeking a companion for time travel.
- DirectorBarry SonnenfeldStarsWill SmithTommy Lee JonesJosh BrolinAgent J travels in time to M.I.B.'s early days in 1969 to stop an alien from assassinating his friend Agent K and changing history.
- DirectorRian JohnsonStarsJoseph Gordon-LevittBruce WillisEmily BluntIn 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent into the past, where a hired gun awaits - someone like Joe - who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by sending back Joe's future self for assassination.
- DirectorRichard CurtisStarsDomhnall GleesonRachel McAdamsBill NighyAt the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.
- DirectorDuncan JonesStarsJake GyllenhaalMichelle MonaghanVera FarmigaA soldier wakes up in someone else's body and discovers he's part of an experimental government program to find the bomber of a commuter train within 8 minutes.
- DirectorSteve PinkStarsJohn CusackRob CorddryCraig RobinsonA malfunctioning time machine at a ski resort takes a man back to 1986 with his two friends and nephew, where they must relive a fateful night and not change anything to make sure the nephew is born.
- DirectorGareth CarrivickStarsChris O'DowdMarc WoottonDean Lennox KellyWhile drinking at their local pub, three social outcasts attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum.
- DirectorNacho VigalondoStarsKarra ElejaldeCandela FernándezBárbara GoenagaA man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.
- DirectorBen SombogaartStarsJohnny FlynnStephanie LeonidasEmily WatsonAfter using his mother's newly built time machine, Dolf gets stuck in the year 1212. He ends up in a children's crusade where he confronts his new friends with modern techniques. However, the Crusade turns out to be even trickier than he first imagined.
- DirectorPeter HyamsStarsEdward BurnsBen KingsleyCatherine McCormackA single mistake in the past, by a time travel company in the future, has devastating and unforeseen consequences.*Butterfly Effect - timetravellers making small changes to prehistoric animals (stepping on a mosquito 100million years ago) has disastrous effects along the years.
This movie is pretty awful, but the short story on which it is based, is one of the prime examples of timetravel-butterfly effect. - DirectorEric BressJ. Mackye GruberStarsAshton KutcherAmy SmartMelora WaltersEvan Treborn suffers blackouts during significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life by reading his journal.
- DirectorShane CarruthStarsShane CarruthDavid SullivanCasey GoodenFour friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.
- DirectorJay RoachStarsMike MyersBeyoncéSeth GreenUpon learning that his father has been kidnapped, Austin Powers must travel to 1975 and defeat the aptly named villain Goldmember, who is working with Dr. Evil.
- DirectorSimon WellsStarsGuy PearceYancey AriasMark AddyHoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds humankind divided into two warring races.
- DirectorJim KaufmanStarsTimothy BusfieldElisha CuthbertGabrielle BoniHer building's elevator, having been altered by a retired physicist in the building, transports 14-year old Susan Shawson back in time from 1998 Philadelphia to the same place in 1881. There she meets Victoria Walker, a girl her own age in need of assistance with her own family's problems. Gradually discovering the power of her time machine, Susan, Victoria, and her young brother Robert travel back and forth in time and succeed in changing both the past and the future.
- DirectorJay RoachStarsMike MyersHeather GrahamMichael YorkDr. Evil is back and has invented a new time machine that allows him to go back to the 1960s and steal Austin Powers' mojo, inadvertently leaving him "shagless".
- DirectorGregory HoblitStarsDennis QuaidJim CaviezelShawn DoyleAn accidental cross-time radio link connects father and son across 30 years. The son tries to save his father's life, but then must fix the consequences.
- DirectorRichard KellyStarsJake GyllenhaalJena MaloneMary McDonnellAfter narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
- DirectorRobert SchwentkeStarsEric BanaRachel McAdamsRon LivingstonHenry DeTamble, a librarian, possesses a unique gene that lets him involuntarily travel through time. His wife, Claire Abshire, finds it difficult to cope with it.
- DirectorLouis MorneauStarsJim BelushiKylie TravisShannon WhirryA psychiatrist makes multiple trips through time to save a woman that was murdered by her brutal husband.
- DirectorHarold RamisStarsBill MurrayAndie MacDowellChris ElliottA narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.Timeloop - Bill Murrays character must modify the events slightly to escape from the timeloop, that he is the only one experiencing.
- DirectorDavid TwohyStarsJeff DanielsAriana RichardsEmilia CrowBefore they can complete renovations on their new inn, Widower (Ben Wilson) and daughter (Hillary) are visited by a woman seeking immediate lodging for her strange group of travellers. Why they won't stay at the hotel in town is just the first of many mysteries surrounding the group that lead Wilson to a startling discovery affecting his family and neighbours.
- DirectorGeoff MurphyStarsEmilio EstevezMick JaggerRene RussoBounty hunters from the future transport a doomed race car driver to New York City in 2009, where his mind will be replaced with that of a dead billionaire.
- DirectorPeter HewittStarsKeanu ReevesAlex WinterWilliam SadlerA tyrant from the future creates evil android doubles of Bill and Ted and sends them back to eliminate the originals.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerLinda HamiltonEdward FurlongA cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsMichael J. FoxChristopher LloydMary SteenburgenStranded in 1955, Marty McFly learns about the death of Doc Brown in 1885 and must travel back in time to save him. With no fuel readily available for the DeLorean, the two must figure how to escape the Old West before Emmett is murdered.
- DirectorMichael AndersonStarsKris KristoffersonCheryl LaddDaniel J. TravantiAn NTSB investigator seeking the cause of an airline disaster meets a warrior woman from 1000 years in the future.
- DirectorStephen HerekStarsKeanu ReevesAlex WinterGeorge CarlinTwo rock-'n-rolling teens, on the verge of failing their class, set out on a quest to make the ultimate school history report after being presented with a time machine.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsKathleen TurnerNicolas CageBarry MillerPeggy Sue faints at a high school reunion. When she wakes up, she finds herself in her own past, just before she finished school.* Remembering the future - mostly focused on Peggy Sue trying to change her life (and those around her) from what she remembers from her future life.
- DirectorRandal KleiserStarsJoey CramerPaul ReubensCliff De YoungIn 1978, a boy travels eight years into the future and has an adventure with an intelligent, wisecracking alien ship.
- DirectorJonathan R. BetuelStarsJohn StockwellDanielle von ZerneckFisher StevensA high school student and his friend find a strange, orb-like piece of equipment to use as a science project, but must stop it when it begins to threaten mankind.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerLinda HamiltonMichael BiehnA human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.
- DirectorStewart RaffillStarsMichael ParéNancy AllenEric ChristmasA United States Navy destroyer escort participates in a Navy "invisibility" experiment that inadvertently sends two sailors forty years into the future.
- DirectorJeannot SzwarcStarsChristopher ReeveJane SeymourChristopher PlummerA Chicago playwright uses self-hypnosis to travel back in time and meet the actress whose vintage portrait hangs in a grand hotel.
- DirectorDon TaylorStarsKirk DouglasMartin SheenKatharine RossA modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsSean ConneryShelley DuvallJohn CleeseA young boy accidentally joins a band of time travelling dwarves, as they jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal.
- DirectorNicholas MeyerStarsMalcolm McDowellMary SteenburgenDavid WarnerH.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to the 20th Century when the serial murderer uses the future writer's time machine to escape his time period.
- DirectorGeorge PalStarsRod TaylorAlan YoungYvette MimieuxA man's vision for a utopian society is disillusioned when travelling forward into time reveals a dark and dangerous society.
- DirectorDon TaylorStarsRoddy McDowallKim HunterBradford DillmanThe world is shocked by the appearance of three talking chimpanzees, who arrived mysteriously in a U.S. spacecraft. They become the toast of society, but one man believes them to be a threat to the human race.
- DirectorDean IsraeliteStarsAmy LandeckerSofia Black-D'EliaVirginia GardnerA group of teens discovers secret plans for a time machine, and construct one. However, things start to get out of control.
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsAmy AdamsJeremy RennerForest WhitakerA linguist works with the military to communicate with alien lifeforms after twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world.
- CreatorBaran bo OdarJantje FrieseStarsLouis HofmannKaroline EichhornLisa VicariA family saga with a supernatural twist, set in a German town where the disappearance of two young children exposes the relationships among four families.A lot of discussion on the problems and practicality of timetravel. Almost all the tropes are here, but with a special focus on the Grandfather paradox and the perfect timeloop, as well as the product of time.
Highly recommended! - DirectorTony ElliottStarsRobbie AmellRachael TaylorShaun BensonTrapped in a lab and stuck in a time loop, a disoriented couple fends off masked raiders while harboring a new energy source that could save humanity.Timeloop - the main character experiences the same timeloop over and over again, and has to escape.
Remembering the future - by remembering what happens in the timeloop, he can modify what is happening, but changing events also causes other characters to experience the timeloop and remember that it is a loop.