Standard Issue: Time Travel Movies
Image by Nick M.W.
The 4 best movies for a paradoxical excursion.
1. Back to the Future
Written by: Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Genre: Comedy/Sci-fi
Back to the Future. Universal Pictures (1985).
“I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet…but your kids are gonna love it.”
— Marty McFly
Quite possibly the best science fiction movie of all time, Back to the Future is the quintessential time travel flick. A pitch perfect script paired with legendary director Robert Zemeckis, forms one of the most iconic blockbuster films of the 1980’s. Marty McFly travels back to 1955 and is tasked with getting his parents to fall in love before he fades out of existence. Stellar characters, consequential stakes, and decades of conflict combine into a tour de force that has yet to be topped. Christopher Lloyd’s legendary performance as Doctor Emmit Brown steals the show alongside Michael J. Fox. This 1985 classic deserves to be part of every movie goer’s collection. There is not much else to say about Back to the Future that has not already been said since its debut; it is epic.
2. Looper
Written by: Rian Johnson
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Genre: Action/Sci-fi
Looper. TriStar Pictures (2012).
“Time travel has not yet been invented, but thirty years from now it will have been.”
— Joe
Bruce Willis’ last good movie, Looper sinks its sci-fi hooks into your cerebral cortex and takes you on a ride through a future that is as bleak as it is fascinating. Written and directed by Rian Johnson, the film is captivating in its vision. A technologically driven present collides with a dystopian future where contract killers called “Loopers” are sent to the future to be killed by their younger selves. Rian Johnson may have ruined a Disney Star Wars sequel, but his bread and butter lies in his ability to bring unique worlds to life with original concepts. His 2005 debut Brick is a prime example of these talents, and Looper is no different. Time travel movies do not need to be overly complicated in their execution and explanation; they just need a hero who is willing to do what no one else can. Jeff Daniels shines in his role as a time traveling mobster named Abe, who runs the Loopers in the present time. His conversations with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character, Joe, are engrossing; adding a layer of intrigue that persists throughout the film until its fantastic bullet riddled culmination.
3. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Written by: Mike Myers
Directed by: Jay Roach
Genre: Comedy
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. New Line Cinema (1997).
“As long as people are still having promiscuous sex, with many anonymous partners without protection, while at the same time experimenting with mind expanding drugs in a consequence free environment…I’ll be sound as a pound.”
— Austin Powers
Pure hilarity playing off the equal hilarity of the over-the-top James Bond franchise, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is one of the most hilarious time travel movies to exist. When Dr. Evil freezes himself in 1960’s England, British agent Austin Powers volunteers to be cryogenically frozen as well; to be awakened when Dr. Evil returns from his orbit around the Earth. Poking fun at both British and American societies, this movie is a must-watch for anyone that needs a good laugh. The time travel aspect is a one-off moment during the film but the Austin Powers unfreezing process scene is side-splitting comedy at its best. This comedy gem is a legendary time travel film that rounds out the genre in all the right places.
4. Tenet
Written: Christopher Nolan
Directed: Christopher Nolan
Genre: Action/Sci-fi
Tenet. Warner Bros. Pictures (2020).
“What’s happened, happened. Which is an expression of fate in the mechanics of the world. It’s not an excuse to do nothing.”
— Neil
For those among us who can solve Rubik’s cubes in less than a minute, Tenet is made just for you. Christopher Nolan’s deep dive into the time travel genre is done in spectacular form with an intricately woven plot that only he could spin. Nolan introduces the concept of inverting the entropy of objects and people, thereby disrupting their flow of time. The concept is novel and wildly entertaining, creating some of the most dynamic action set pieces that the time travel genre has ever had. Never mind traveling to a particular point in time in a flash, with Tenet, time is a linear path that can be traveled on in a back-and-forth manner. People can travel against the flow of time just as they maneuver with it normally. The entire movie has most of its audience scratching its head but not out of sheer confusion. Instead, Nolan’s film will have its viewers fascinated, wondering aloud what is happening and how. The entropy concept is introduced in bits and pieces earlier in the film and builds into a frenetic crescendo at its conclusion. Teetering on the edge of credible science and the impossible, Tenet is a fantastic time travel film that expands upon the mind-bending genre with a unique style and panache that only Christopher Nolan could achieve.