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Favorite time travel movie of the 21st century
- Thread starter TissueBox
- Start date
I genuinely really liked Avengers Endgame's handling of time travel, and I was expecting to be really underwhelmed by it.
My biggest issue with time travel stories is when it's used to "undo" or "erase" a timeline, no matter how many people die or how bad things get, the good guys just have to flip the switch, kill the right guy, change things, to make it so none of the bad stuff ever happened.
Endgame wasn't about undoing "the Snap" using time travel, it was about using time travel to get the Infinity gems in order to use the Gauntlet to bring the people back killed by "the snap". That may seem like semantics, but for me it made all the difference in making the story still have weight and giving actions consequences rather than the time travel being used to erase everything that happened.
Tony Stark still had his character development and his daughter still exists, Vision's death still happened and had emotional weight (unless WandaVision undoes it, haha), Black Widow's sacrifice still happens and effected the characters, the grief the world (or the whole universe) felt about losing their loved ones still happened, which makes their return all the more meaningful.
If they'd just used time travel to undo it, nobody would have realized it even happened which always feel cheap when movies or shows do it.
My biggest issue with time travel stories is when it's used to "undo" or "erase" a timeline, no matter how many people die or how bad things get, the good guys just have to flip the switch, kill the right guy, change things, to make it so none of the bad stuff ever happened.
Endgame wasn't about undoing "the Snap" using time travel, it was about using time travel to get the Infinity gems in order to use the Gauntlet to bring the people back killed by "the snap". That may seem like semantics, but for me it made all the difference in making the story still have weight and giving actions consequences rather than the time travel being used to erase everything that happened.
Tony Stark still had his character development and his daughter still exists, Vision's death still happened and had emotional weight (unless WandaVision undoes it, haha), Black Widow's sacrifice still happens and effected the characters, the grief the world (or the whole universe) felt about losing their loved ones still happened, which makes their return all the more meaningful.
If they'd just used time travel to undo it, nobody would have realized it even happened which always feel cheap when movies or shows do it.
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Are we counting day loops as time travel? Because Palm Springs would be on my list, followed by End Game, and Happy Death Day.
That was about premonition, rather than time travel.
This is also debatable. There wasn't any science-breaking time travel (as discussed in the movie, where Coop desperately wants to go back through time), so much as observable relativity.
Film: Looper
TV: Dark (S1, S2, S3)
I saw Looper in college in a completely empty theater and it was amazing. Dark is a German Netflix series and it has one of the intricately designed time travel plots I've ever seen in any medium. It's incredible and more people need to watch it.
Also shoutout to Predestination which is also a great time travel movie.
TV: Dark (S1, S2, S3)
I saw Looper in college in a completely empty theater and it was amazing. Dark is a German Netflix series and it has one of the intricately designed time travel plots I've ever seen in any medium. It's incredible and more people need to watch it.
Also shoutout to Predestination which is also a great time travel movie.
So no films about quasi-realistic explorations of the dimension of time?
Just magical "travel through time" films?
Well fine.
I'll have to think on this further then lol.
I would have voted for Predestination, voted for Looper but should have voted for Timecrimes. But now reading this thread, it would actually be a tough choice between Predestination and About Time which I forgot at first.
As much as I dislike time travel in movies where they don't belong (MCU was pretty much ruined by time travel), I do enjoy time travel movies which is very different from just having time travel in a movie.
As much as I dislike time travel in movies where they don't belong (MCU was pretty much ruined by time travel), I do enjoy time travel movies which is very different from just having time travel in a movie.
Yup yup. Only recently started watching this and it's amazing.
I find it strange that there aren't many more BTTF-like time travel movies nowadays, that is to say-- "fish out of water" stories where the differences between the eras are highlighted. I would have thought this would be especially popular in an era which is very different to those that preceded it and is also obsessed with nostalgia.
It could be that observations such as "remember how the world used to be so different without phones/internet?" are just so trite no one bothers putting them up on screen.
It could be that observations such as "remember how the world used to be so different without phones/internet?" are just so trite no one bothers putting them up on screen.
Some of my favs
Edge Of Tomorrow
Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkaban
Memento (debatable)
Avengers Endgame
Safety Not Guaranteed
Edge Of Tomorrow
Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkaban
Memento (debatable)
Avengers Endgame
Safety Not Guaranteed
I'll watch it again, but I still think the aliens are from the future. Pretty sure that their perception of time is limited by their own lifespans. They specifically say that they need humanity's help in 3000 years -- you guys may be correct, if the squid men live for thousands of years
Timecrimes is great but my vote goes to Coherence
I love this movie but it's not really time travel. It's alternate universes no?
Appreciate the attempt OP but as many posters have pointed out there's some massive titles missing in the list. Can't even see why you'd put the Avengers movie up there seeing some of the other stuff that came out the last 20 years but hey YMMV. More importantly, you got us all talking about time travelling movies and that's a win anyway.
I think one of my favourite ways of going about it is Donny Darko, but Butterfly Effect, 12 Monkeys, Girl who Leapt through Time are some serious masterpieces.
I'd also like to direct all ya attention to this underrated masterpiece:
This movie is the absolute tits and though it deals more with choices and alternative universes depending on choices made, there's a nifty time travel element (won't spoil) that wraps up some stuff incredibly neatly. Also, Jared Leto is amazing in this.
I think one of my favourite ways of going about it is Donny Darko, but Butterfly Effect, 12 Monkeys, Girl who Leapt through Time are some serious masterpieces.
I'd also like to direct all ya attention to this underrated masterpiece:
This movie is the absolute tits and though it deals more with choices and alternative universes depending on choices made, there's a nifty time travel element (won't spoil) that wraps up some stuff incredibly neatly. Also, Jared Leto is amazing in this.
Voted endgame
Only saw looper otherwise
Azkaban's time travel is a subplot at best, I wouldn't consider it a time travel movie
Only saw looper otherwise
Azkaban's time travel is a subplot at best, I wouldn't consider it a time travel movie
It's got to be Primer. One of my favourite movies about time travel, scrappy engineers and science being weird and done with a handful of tenners.
This is the first one that came to mind for me too, really does time travel in a very elegant and effective way.
Primer and Edge of Nowhere / Live Die Repeat for me.
(How is it not on the list, great film)
Also liked Palm Springs and Happy Death Day.
(How is it not on the list, great film)
Also liked Palm Springs and Happy Death Day.
No they are not.
they can see the future, they are not from the future [\spoiler]
they can see their own future, not the future. the way it comes off to me is that the squid people exist/are conscious in every moment of their own lives.
As a massive MCU shill, Endgame is probably my favorite for being such an incredible cap on the Infinity Saga, but Looper is a better movie.
Voting Endgame because that's what the thread is asking, but it wasn't the best time travel movie.
Voting Endgame because that's what the thread is asking, but it wasn't the best time travel movie.
Arrival and Russian Doll do clever things with the perception of time, despite not being strictly time "travel" media.
they never say you can only see your own future, youre inferring that because they only show her looking into her own future. They literally tell her she can see the future not you can see your own future. Also when she ask how they see the future they don't say we time traveled, they say the weapon opens the future.
Period pieces are some of the most expensive productions in Hollywood. To do multiple historical periods accurately would be quite a budget. I think it's also kind of why time travel films tend to be Groundhog Day type time-loop scenarios - much kinder on the wallet.
About Time is my favorite by far because it's such a cute movie.
Dark is a show so that's completely different, but it managed to show why time travel as a concept leads to all kinds of fucked up situations. I guess Predestination is the light version of this story.
I don't think Time Lapse counts because characters don't actually travel, but the end result is kinda similar. Was impressed by that movie's simple story.
Dark is a show so that's completely different, but it managed to show why time travel as a concept leads to all kinds of fucked up situations. I guess Predestination is the light version of this story.
I don't think Time Lapse counts because characters don't actually travel, but the end result is kinda similar. Was impressed by that movie's simple story.
This thread has made me realize that a large number of my favorite movies involve time travel or time loops.