5. Frequency(2000)
Ive always considered
Frequency to be a much underrated film. Billed upon its 2000 release as
Back to the Future meets
The Sixth Sense youd be forgiven for thinking that this was a shameless attempt to cash-in on the success of either/both of those films. For time travel puritans this isnt strictly a time travel movie, so I may be ostracised from the time travel circle for including it here, but in my eyes this is time travel 101, done well.
Dennis Quaid stars opposite
Jim Caviezel who manages to actually get away from his more familiar weird, moody, stalker role with quite a warm performance here for
Primal Fear and
Fracture director
Gregory Hoblit. Through miraculous Northern Lights activity Caviezels John Sullivan manages to contact his now dead dad Frank (Quaid) back in 1969 using his old amateur radio. John manages to help Frank avoid his death, but as is usually the case, things are then changed for the worse; namely that a serial killer who had previously only killed three women has now, in the altered timeline, killed ten including Johns Mother Julia (
LostsElizabeth Mitchell). The father and son duo must then work together across time to put history back on course, which in what is the films biggest let down, they actually do and all ends well.
Frequency does share many themes with
Back to the Future and for the most part quite effectively takes them to a much darker place, I would have just liked to see them follow through with that rather than going for a sugary sweet ending where everyone seems to forget about the dangers of altering history.