9 Best Time Travel Movies
March 3, 2010 at 9:00 am by Max Lance - (86) Comments
Includes those who didn't see it
Includes those who didn't see it
9. Idiocracy
Mike Judge’s little-known follow-up to Office Space follows a military underachiever and a prostitute that have been accidentally frozen for hundreds of years. Through a voiceover that explains how only stupid people have kept breeding, our stars (Luke Wilson and Maya Randolph) emerge in the future to find themselves the smartest humans on the planet. The dystopia is taken to its most extreme conclusions, and can be thought of as a Beevis and Butthead type of Wall-E. Although it comes up short in a few spots and was mostly released straight-to-DVD, it’s got some great laughs and a premise that might not be too far from the truth.
8. Timecrimes
A 2007 Spanish film and sleeper hit when it was released in the U.S. in 2008, Timecrimes is an engaging science fiction thriller about a man who travels one hour back in time. The simple premise is taken to complicated lengths as the convoluted plot twists around on itself through time and different versions of the same person. It’d be a shame to give away spoilers here, but it’s one of the best foreign language films of the past ten years.
7. Groundhog Day
One of dozens of genius Bill Murray comedies, Groundhog Day is about a misanthropic weatherman stuck in small-town Pennsylvania covering the Groundhog Day celebration. He is stuck there in the worst way, in that he wakes up in the same day every day, trapped in what at first become fun (hitting on anyone without consequence, robbing banks) and gradually turns into his hell.
Embrace the bunny
Embrace the bunny
6. Donnie Darko
One of the most lauded films amongst film snobs and aspiring critical studies majors, Richard Kelly’s film about a tortured young man and threats from a frightening psychotic bunny jumps around in time with the threat of the end of the world and his life. With an ending that will make you immediately want to rewatch the film and try to figure out everything that’s happened, Donnie Darko stands as smart and compelling while being stylistically original.
5. 12 Monkeys
Terry Gilliam’s twisted story and one of Bruce Willis’s best acting turns about a man sent back in time from a future in which a deadly virus has forced humans to live underground. Using flashbacks and a nonlinear story to give you a Hitchcock-worthy disorienting feel relating to our time traveling protagonist, it launches you into a confusing and surreal world covering hundreds of years.
4. It’s a Wonderful Life
Yeah this movie is associated with boring Christmas weekends when you’re trapped at home with a large family, but it’s a classic film that is cited whenever anyone does a character-driven time traveling movie. It’s a Wonderful Life is about a man about to commit suicide. His guardian angel appears and shows him what life would be like if he were never born. It’s a sweet movie, and if you can get over the black and white, maybe there’s a message other than indulging teenage masochism to show people what they’d be missing if you were gone.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
3. Planet of the Apes
One of the best twist endings in a genre that begs for them, Planet of the Apes finds a wayward group of space travelers – lead by Charlton Heston – on a planet where apes have evolved to be the master species, not humans. Justice was nearly done in the Mark Wahlberg remake, well at least improving on the weak costumes, but the action, story and absurdity still hold up. Just don’t get sucked into the dozens of bad sequels.
2. The Terminator
The one that started it all, James Cameron’s spectacular horror movie redefined technology, action and launched Arnold Schwarzenegger into movie star status. A cyborg from the future is sent into the past to murder the future mother of the resistance leader. The resistance has managed to send back some protection in the human Kyle Reese as they try to fight off the unstoppable killing machine. Still curious about how John Connor – in the future – mentions to Reese that he has to go back in time to bang his mom. Awkward conversation don’t you think?
1. Back to the Future
Maybe the safe and easy choice, Back to the Future – along with the craziness of part II in the series – is the classic time traveling comedy about Marty McFly and Doc Brown’s time machine. Everything about it has become iconic: the Delorian time machine, sliding down on the electric wire, the school dance. Marty accidentally travels back to his parents’ day and when he messes up how they meet, he has to get his loser dad back with his mom. That is if his mom doesn’t fall for him first. It’s hilarious and makes you squirm. And where did Biff go anyway?
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Oh hey what about Primer.
Not putting Primer on the list is like putting Timecop at #2
Confirmed
1. Primer
To hell with Primer! Where’s Timecop?!
“The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” should have an honorable mention
LoL looks like you forgot primer in this one dude.
There was a movie… what was it…. something’s missing from the list… Oh yes.
Primer.
I seventh the request for Primer on this list. That is the one that I assumed would be on here when I first saw the headline. There are many many other time travel movies, so narrowing it down to 9 is tough, but Primer is absolutely the best. Here’s an idea. I’ll make room for Primer by disqualifying a few of the other movies on the list for not actually HAVING any time traveling in them.
9. Idiocracy: A man is put in stasis, and time progresses normally while he sleeps. How is that different than when a movie shows you someone going to bed and then shows them waking up? The filmmakers just skipped showing you the boring time in between.
4. It’s a Wonderful Life: A man is shown a hypothetical vision of his possible future–not time travel.
3. Planet of the Apes: The crew of the space craft are in stasis sleep for a very long time. One of them eventually discovers that he is actually back on Earth, but a lot of time has passed–not time travel.
There ya go! Now you have room to put Primer in the list three times!
Not to mention Time Bandits and Bill and Ted. This list joins the top ten FAILED top ten lists.
I’m not sure how seriously to take a time travel list without Primer.
no frequently asked questions about time travel either?
Primer > Libyans
P-R-I-M-E-R
I just stopped by to beat the dead horse some more, just to make sure the point got across: this list loses all credibility without Primer in first place. OP should go watch it before spending another 5 minutes shitting out the next inane list comprised of a bunch of randomly-ordered items with loose association with the original topic (see: Idiocracy and Its a Wonderful Life – seriously, wtf?). Then again, that might prove to be bad advice when the OP comes back with “Top 7 Movies With Refrigerators In Them”, just to fit Primer in somewhere.
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Truecrimes? Really? That was the most predictable time travel plot imaginable followed by a “twist”, obvious 20 minutes before the reveal. The acting was terrible and the characters didn’t act like real people. The boobs were great though, so I can see how you liked it.
This list is crap, mainly because it lost all credibility by leaving Primer out….
if it was “tv show” instead of movie….Lost would pwn.
OK while I agree with Primer, what about A Sound of Thunder, Timecop, The Butterfly Effect, Star Trek IV, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Time Bandits, and The Time Machine. Add Back to the Future and Terminator to this list from yours and it would be a great Top 10 list with an honorable mention for Timecrimes.
It don’t get much better than the BTTF trilogy.
It’s a matter of preference I think. I really do agree with the author that Back to the Future should be number 1.
Where is Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure?
I’ve never heard or Primer, and I’m not entirely sure that the people above recommending it are truly multiple people, but I’m downloading it now. Thanks for the suggestion.
How come there’s no Primer in this list?
It’s A Wonderful Life is not a time travel movie. It is a movie covering a character’s life with a sequence showing that character what the world would have been like without him.
No time travel at all.
No Primer? Your list is invalid.
Time Bandits FTW!
I agree with everyone else. Primer > *
I watched that movie the first time and got so lost that I immediately just started it over. I doubt anyone can watch that movie one time and even understand 25% of how awesome it really is.
I’d say the awesomeness peaks after at least 3 or 4 times through.
I STILL find new stuff when I watch it now…
No Primer. Fail.
11 minutes ago pwns everything on this list save 12 monkeys and timecrimes.
PRIMER!
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