Whether someone travels through time, reverses time or gets stuck in a time-loop, stories about temporal shenanigans can provide loads of thought-provoking cinematic entertainment. But when mishandled these types of stories can be pretty lame (A Wrinkle in Time, Bill & Ted Face the Music, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Terminator: Dark Fate, Terminator: Genisys, Terminator: Rise of the Machines). It takes more than just showing a guy meeting his great-grandkids (or ancient ancestors) to make a great time flick. Here are the 12 best:
12. Predestination
I can't tell you much about Predestination without spoiling some narrative treats. What I can say is that Ethan Hawke's protagonist is basically a time cop. But don't confuse this movie with the one from the 90s starring Van Damme. Just watch it.
11. Two Distant Strangers
In Groundhog Day, reliving the same 24 hours became so torturous for Phil Connors that he became suicidal. And Phil was a white guy in small-town Pennsylvania. Imagine being trapped in the same day as a Black man in the Big Apple encountering a racist NYPD officer over and over again. That's Carter James' existence in Two Distant Strangers. And like Phil, dying only serves to reset the clock.
10. The Flash
This loose adaptation of DC Comics' Flashpoint storyline follows Barry Allen as he travels to the past in order to prevent his mother's murder, which would also prevent his father's wrongful criminal prosecution for said murder. Unfortunately, his interference with the space/time continuum results in several unforeseen consequences; the worst of which is a successful alien invasion of Earth.
9. Tenet
This is the first Christopher Nolan movie on this list and boy does that guy like playing around with time. Tenet revolves around a CIA operative tasked with preventing global destruction by way of reversed entropy. He learns that a future scientist will develop a way to invert entropy (which allows objects and people to move backward through time) and realized the catastrophic potential of this technology a little too late. Some of the tech has made its way into the wrong hands and they won't be satisfied until they locate her hidden formula.
8. Interstellar
Because the planet is losing its ability to sustain plant life, by 2067 mankind needs to find a new home -- like yesterday. So ace pilot Joseph Cooper leaves his 15-year-old son, 10-year-old daughter, father-in-law and everybody else he knows in order to join an expedition to find a new planet. This journey necessitates the use of wormholes, which have the effect of distorting time. By the time Coop sees his daughter again, she's a senior citizen and he appears to be the same age that he was when he left.
7. The Terminator
The Terminator is aptly named. Though you root for them, none of the film's human characters manage to even come close to stealing the spotlight away from the hulking cyborg in its posters.
In the year 2029, mankind is at war with an army of robots under the command of a self aware artificially intelligent defense network called Skynet that initiated a nuclear holocaust in an attempt to eradicate humanity. Concluding that the human resistance is on the verge of defeating the machines, Skynet uses time travel technology to send one its T-800 Model 101 cyborgs to 1984 to assassinate unassuming waitress Sarah Connor. As it turns out, Sarah is due to conceive John Connor, who will lead the human resistance, in the next few days. Discovering the plot, John sends one of his soldiers back in time as well in the hopes of preventing the murder.
Before the soldier, Kyle Reese, arrives, the cyborg, which appears to be a competitive bodybuilder due to a layer of flesh over its metallic endoskeleton, racks up quite a body-count. The robot kills thugs for their clothing, dusts off a gun store salesman for weapons and systematically goes through the Los Angeles phone book bumping off residents who happen to be named Sarah Connor.
After Reese locates Sarah in time to rescue her from the literal killing machine, he's arrested and Sarah's taken along to the police station in order to give a statement. Undeterred by its target's now seemingly impenetrable level of security, the Terminator mows through 17 police officers and her mom in another attempt to take her out.
Because the film has one of the slickest twists in sci-fi movie history, I won't spoil the ending or give any more details.
6. The Snyder Cut
The Snyder Cut features DC's mightiest heroes banding together to prevent Apokoliptan general Steppenwolf's alien invasion of the Earth. But the experienced conqueror knows his business and succeeds in turning Kal-El, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry and Diana to ash with his three mother boxes. End of story? Nope. Barry Allen is fast enough to wind the clock back just by running, which gives the heroes one more bite at the apple.
5. The Edge of Tomorrow
I gotta confess...when I saw the commercial for this movie I figured I'd skip it. I figured it would just be Tom Cruise going through the motions in a dumb, big-budget, glossy attempt to keep up with all the superhero flicks. I was so wrong I ended up going to see it twice. Tom Cruise's third alien invasion movie (and the only one without an assist from Morgan Freeman) is also his best. Edge of Tomorrow surpasses both 2005's critically-embraced (but audience-panned) War of the Worlds and 2013's excellent Oblivion. While Worlds mainly focused on the civilian flight from the aliens and Oblivion concerned itself with the aftermath of the invasion, Edge is all about the military's role during the war against the invaders. This film also provides much more information about, and glimpses of, the off-worlders.
Some time in 2015, extra-terrestrials, nicknamed Mimics, show up and ruthlessly slaughter their way from Germany to the rest of Europe (Sound familiar?). The hive-like organization of the aliens' society makes them more than a match for Earthlings. Luckily, former Major and now Private William Cage develops a neurological link with the Mimics that allows him to "see" what they're planning.
Some time in 2015, extra-terrestrials, nicknamed Mimics, show up and ruthlessly slaughter their way from Germany to the rest of Europe (Sound familiar?). The hive-like organization of the aliens' society makes them more than a match for Earthlings. Luckily, former Major and now Private William Cage develops a neurological link with the Mimics that allows him to "see" what they're planning.
The heavy and detailed emphasis on the military makes it perhaps the best futuristic war movie of all time (The Empire Strikes Back is set "long, long ago", FYI). The film contains an amusing nod to another memorable sci-fi movie featuring the military as well. I'm not gonna spoil it by telling you which one. There is a significant amount of attention paid to combat training which is not customary at all for sci-fi war films. In this aspect, Edge is rivaled only by Starship Troopers and Edge is a far superior movie. Make no mistake, it is indeed a war movie, complete with Marine culture, scuffed up, tangible-looking high-tech weaponry and it has what could be described as the futuristic version of the opening of Saving Private Ryan. The most distinctive pieces of equipment featured in the film are the various exoskeleton battle suits utilized by the infantry in combat. Incidentally, such suits may not be science fiction for long as real life prototypes for similar types of apparatuses have been recorded as producing such results as lifting more than 200 lbs for the person donning it and walking at least one mile on a full charge.
The performances far exceed expectations as both recognizable faces and otherwise among the cast all manage to wholly disappear into their respective roles. Cruise in particular eschews his usual cocky, sometimes selfless, hotshot onscreen persona in favor of the complete opposite in order to render the cowardly and selfish Major William Cage. Displaying far more talent than is expected in a sci-fi action flick, Cruise really does seem like he's scared and desperate to save his own skin when everything hits the fan. This isn't just "Tom Cruise in a battle suit". He's doing some acting here. Edge of Tomorrow is adapted from a 2004 Japanese novel entitled, "All You Need is Kill", which itself was partly inspired by the author's experience playing video games.
The performances far exceed expectations as both recognizable faces and otherwise among the cast all manage to wholly disappear into their respective roles. Cruise in particular eschews his usual cocky, sometimes selfless, hotshot onscreen persona in favor of the complete opposite in order to render the cowardly and selfish Major William Cage. Displaying far more talent than is expected in a sci-fi action flick, Cruise really does seem like he's scared and desperate to save his own skin when everything hits the fan. This isn't just "Tom Cruise in a battle suit". He's doing some acting here. Edge of Tomorrow is adapted from a 2004 Japanese novel entitled, "All You Need is Kill", which itself was partly inspired by the author's experience playing video games.
If you haven't seen the movie yet, the fact that it's on this list already spoils the fact that time travel is involved. But that's as far as I'll go with the spoilers.
4. The Tomorrow War
By the year 2023, Iraq War veteran and family man Dan Forester has seemingly made a successful transition back into civilian life. And then he's drafted for military service in a global effort to repel alien invaders. However, because the invasion doesn't take place until 2051, Forester and his fellow draftees are sent to the front lines via a wormhole. Why use fighters from the past? Because the war has ground the human population down to less than 500,000. And the situation is so dire that conscripts are given about seven days (if they're lucky) of basic training before deployment. The war machine is in desperate need of bodies.
3. Back to the Future
High school student Marty McFly finds himself having to jumpstart his own origin story after making a speedy getaway in a pimped-out DeLorean. The car, which belongs to his friend -- and local nutty professor -- Emmett Brown. Doc Brown had stolen plutonium from Libyan extremists for use in the DeLorean. Unfortunately for Doc, the terrorists track him to the parking lot of the Twin Pines mall in their town, Hill Valley, California. Doc Brown is shot to death and Marty naturally hops in the fast car in order to escape the same fate. Unbeknownst to Marty, the vehicle is set for November 5, 1955 and he guns it to 88 mph, which is the speed it must achieve in order to travel through time. Unfortunately, the trip uses the last of the plutonium (the necessary ingredient for temporal displacement) and that particular radioactive element isn't exactly readily available in the 1950s.
Marty winds up meeting a younger version of Doc as well as both of his parents. To his dismay, he discovers that getting his parents together (so that he can eventually be born) will be easier said than done -- especially since his future mom, Lorraine, has a crush on him.
My only complaint about Back to the Future is the suggestion that Marty inadvertently invented rock 'n roll.
2. Star Trek
A decade after the release of the first Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace, Star Trek followed suit with infinitely more successful results. Captain Kirk and the gang came back from the dead at a great time seeing as how Star Wars, Star Trek's only real competition in the space epic game, had supposedly wrapped up for good four years earlier. The new look Trek benefited from an infusion of Star Wars-esque action, which immediately earned it the title of the absolute best of the then 11 Star Trek movies (and better than half of the then six Star Wars movies). Director J.J. Abrams would resurrect Star Wars as well six years later.
This origin story goes back further than any other Trek movie -- to the
birth of James T. Kirk. Years later, while Kirk rebels against his
stepfather, stealing his vintage 1965 Corvette Stingray for a joyride that
ends with him in police custody and the car at the bottom of a gorge, a
young Spock stands up to racist bullies on the planet Vulcan. The two are
set on a collision course when Kirk is challenged to live up to his dead
father's legacy by joining Starfleet, while Spock declines an invitation to
attend the Vulcan Science Academy in favor of enlisting in the famed
spacefaring fleet himself. When they finally meet it does not go well. After Spock accuses Kirk of cheating, the latter is ordered to appear at a disciplinary hearing. However, a distress call from Vulcan interrupts the proceedings and the unavailability of the fleet necessitates the ordering of Kirk's fellow cadets into action in order to aid in the rescue of the planet's inhabitants from a catastrophic storm.
Having grown up hearing his mother's first-hand account of the attack that cost his father's life, Kirk recognizes the atmospheric disturbance for what it is: a Romulan assault. After conning his way onto Starfleet's newest and most advanced ship, the USS Enterprise, with the help of his friend, medical officer Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Kirk relays his suspicions to the vessel's commander. And upon their arrival at Vulcan, the Enterprise crew witnesses a Romulan mining ship, the Narada, drilling into the planet's core. Though the previous incident occurred 20 years earlier, the Narada is indeed the same vessel that attacked Kirk's father's ship, the USS Kelvin. In an attempt to negotiate peace, Captain Pike surrenders to the Narada's commander, Captain Nero, leaving the Enterprise under Spock's command and naming Kirk the first officer. Though Kirk and helmsman Hikaru Sulu head down to the drilling platform in order to thwart Nero's plan to create a black hole at Vulcan's center by depositing red matter in the global core, they're ultimately too late and the planet implodes. Spock, who'd beamed down to the surface, is unable to save his mother, though his father and the Vulcan high council survive.
Back aboard the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock clash, resulting in the former's being marooned on a desolate Starfleet outpost, where he meets an older Spock from 129 years in the future who involuntarily traveled to the past along with the crew of the Narada via a black hole (their arrival in the past, on the day of Kirk's birth, resulted in the destruction of George Kirk's ship). Kirk also encounters disgraced Starfleet engineer Montgomery Scott, who manages to get them back aboard the Enterprise. After provoking the younger Spock into a violent rage, Kirk becomes the ship's acting captain. The duo subsequently travels to the Narada to both rescue Captain Pike and to prevent Nero from destroying Earth in the same manner that he obliterated Vulcan.
This origin story goes back further than any other Trek movie -- to the
birth of James T. Kirk. Years later, while Kirk rebels against his
stepfather, stealing his vintage 1965 Corvette Stingray for a joyride that
ends with him in police custody and the car at the bottom of a gorge, a
young Spock stands up to racist bullies on the planet Vulcan. The two are
set on a collision course when Kirk is challenged to live up to his dead
father's legacy by joining Starfleet, while Spock declines an invitation to
attend the Vulcan Science Academy in favor of enlisting in the famed
spacefaring fleet himself. When they finally meet it does not go well. After Spock accuses Kirk of cheating, the latter is ordered to appear at a disciplinary hearing. However, a distress call from Vulcan interrupts the proceedings and the unavailability of the fleet necessitates the ordering of Kirk's fellow cadets into action in order to aid in the rescue of the planet's inhabitants from a catastrophic storm.
Having grown up hearing his mother's first-hand account of the attack that cost his father's life, Kirk recognizes the atmospheric disturbance for what it is: a Romulan assault. After conning his way onto Starfleet's newest and most advanced ship, the USS Enterprise, with the help of his friend, medical officer Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Kirk relays his suspicions to the vessel's commander. And upon their arrival at Vulcan, the Enterprise crew witnesses a Romulan mining ship, the Narada, drilling into the planet's core. Though the previous incident occurred 20 years earlier, the Narada is indeed the same vessel that attacked Kirk's father's ship, the USS Kelvin. In an attempt to negotiate peace, Captain Pike surrenders to the Narada's commander, Captain Nero, leaving the Enterprise under Spock's command and naming Kirk the first officer. Though Kirk and helmsman Hikaru Sulu head down to the drilling platform in order to thwart Nero's plan to create a black hole at Vulcan's center by depositing red matter in the global core, they're ultimately too late and the planet implodes. Spock, who'd beamed down to the surface, is unable to save his mother, though his father and the Vulcan high council survive.
Back aboard the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock clash, resulting in the former's being marooned on a desolate Starfleet outpost, where he meets an older Spock from 129 years in the future who involuntarily traveled to the past along with the crew of the Narada via a black hole (their arrival in the past, on the day of Kirk's birth, resulted in the destruction of George Kirk's ship). Kirk also encounters disgraced Starfleet engineer Montgomery Scott, who manages to get them back aboard the Enterprise. After provoking the younger Spock into a violent rage, Kirk becomes the ship's acting captain. The duo subsequently travels to the Narada to both rescue Captain Pike and to prevent Nero from destroying Earth in the same manner that he obliterated Vulcan.
1. Infinity War
The MCU seems to have fallen in love with time travel. The first of these movies to explicitly feature temporal shenanigans was Doctor Strange. And of course, Endgame gave us the infamous "time-heist". Now, Loki is being prosecuted for his crimes against the timeline in his self-titled streaming series. But the best Marvel movie to tamper with the normal flow of time is Infinity War.
During the Battle of Wakanda, galactic warlord Thanos used one of the famed Infinity Gems (the Time Stone) to obtain another (the Mind Stone). Unfortunately for the Vision, said stone was implanted in his forehead at the time. While the Avengers knew that Visions noggin wasn't safe -- because Corvus Glaive had attempted to extract the headpiece earlier -- and Wanda Maximoff had reluctantly shattered it, killing the android that she loved in the process, Thanos reversed time so that he could personally rip the intact stone from Vision's head.
Updated 7/1/21
and 8/27/23
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