One of the hardest problems about being human, and one of the most complex and frustrating elements, comes from our perception of time and causality. Time appears to be moving forward, things continue to build up and become more complex, without any chance of being undone or rewinded—you are born only after you are conceived and you can’t un-ask that girl out; no matter what happens the past is the past.
This leads to another problem that makes being human so excruciating—we don’t know what is going to happen. The future is as blank as the past is fixed, no matter the present moment, the future is almost impossible to truly predict. The future has not happened until it has.
This is where the fascination with time travel comes—what if we could go back and change things? What if we could know the future? These are things that keep you up night; that keep everyone across the globe up at night. And this is where the fantasy of the time travel film comes from, and why it has been such a staple in both literature and film—not to mention being a favourite of coffee shop philosophers.
And it’s not just whether it’s possible either—it’s more about the implications of it existing. Are we destined to always repeat the same mistakes? Does fate exist? Are we really able to choose? Is every event that occurs just random? This is where the best of these ten time travel films really shine— exploring issues of the human condition and the human experience.
It’s not always just about being cool.
10. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Type of time travel: The Past
Mode of transport: A sweet phonebooth
An intellectual journey into the idea of time travel as a learning aid for two slackers from high school with poor grades who have to pass a history report so that they might in the future form a band that saves the world. This film explores the notion of time travel as experiencing history instead of just reading about it and explores the notion of history itself and also the notion of futures that must be protected. It’s also always nice to see Keanu Reeves as “Ted” the dim-witted metalhead and George Carlin does as their idiosyncratic mentor Rufus.
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10 Comments
Glad to see Terminator top of the list. But where was Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home?
Nice to see Frequency in the list, I love it and it’s not well known.
So BTTF was never supposed to be a trilogy ? I guess that explains the big “to be continued” title at the end. Definitive sign of a stand-alone movie.
the first film doesn’t have that title card, only the second one does
The “to be continued” at the end of the first part was edited in years later, after the sequels had already been released. They never intended on creating a trilogy. The “to be continued” at the end of the first film doesn’t appear in the original DVD release either. It has the original cinematic release and it’s stated in the special features that the ending with Doc telling Marty and Jennifer that something has to be done about their kids was meant as a joke, as was the car flying. They said had they known they would be making a sequel they’d never have put Jennifer in the car as it only complicated matters. Part two says “to be concluded” because two and three were later filmed back to back.
You forgot Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban! Probably one of the most cleverly conceived time travel plots with the time-turner
Glad frequency made it. it’s a great little movie.
Butterfly effect? great movie and totally unexpectedly cool.
Man from earth? i know its not time travel exactly but i saw it recently and it blew me away.
Liam totally has it with The Butterfly Effect. That movie was unexpectedly awesome and is pretty much the only time I’ve enjoyed Ashton Kutcher outside of That 70′s Show.
I guess depending on your interpretation …Planet of the Apes…and I suppose technically Superman the Motion Picture (although a bit of a stretch).
Paycheck. Its time travel is in the form of future viewing.