10 Sci-Fi Movie Clichés Everyone Secretly Loves
3. Time Travelling Never Goes According To Plan
Going back in time to fix a problem is something we've all personally wished for. Be it something monumental like a world-changing event, or something even worse, like accidentally saying "I love you" to the waiter in a restaurant, we've all at some point wished we could turn back the clock and do things differently.
Time travel as a major plot device is already going to be ripe with twists and turns. When a movie's protagonist goes back to the past, there's a strong possibility they are going to wreck the future (Looper), or their presence could jeopardize their very existence (Back To The Future).
The idea of going back in time to fix a problem, only for the hero to make matters worse is not a fresh idea despite it being conveyed in various ways. Whether you get the twist within the first five minutes or not, films have been routinely trying to slip this one past us.
Lately, movie-makers have cottoned on and now the twist is woven into the plot- the narrative beats of Arrival keep the audience believing segments of the film are taking place in the past, and Tenet presents time travel as a battlefield as opposed to a narrative device.
Until the laws of moving through time become more concrete, let's let films have more fun with it.