This weekend most Canadians will “fall back” and change their clocks. Of course, Saskatchewan does not participate in the annual daylight saving time activity. This did, however, inspire us to think about time travel. Here are five movies with time travel as part of its central premise.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
The culmination of 10 years and 22 previous movies, Endgame is now the highest grossing film of all time. Set in 2023, five years after the events of Infinity War, time travel plays a crucial role in the film’s plot. In order to stop the evil Thanos and reverse the effects of “The Snap” — which wiped out half of all life in existence — the remaining heroes set about travelling back in time to gain the upper hand.
Although there is some confusion as to the “rules” of time travel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), there is no doubt the concept allowed for some fun moments. This includes 2023 Captain America fighting his 2012 self or Tony Stark getting to have a heartfelt moment with his dad. Indeed, the film is not without its tender moments (“I love you 3,000”) — or its controversy — but it is undeniably a great film for fans of the MCU. To everyone else, it is a big, bloated movie that you probably won’t fully comprehend without first watching its 2018 predecessor, Infinity War, let alone the rest of the franchise.
If you don’t think too hard it can still be a lot of fun though.
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
No way! Two high school slackers use a magical phone booth to travel through time. This helps them with an important school history project. Along the way, they meet Genghis Khan, Socrates, Sigmund Feud, Beethoven, Abraham Lincoln, Joan of Arc, and Billy the Kid. It’s undeniably silly but it is also a lot of fun, thanks to the chemistry between stars Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves. It also a blast seeing these historical figures brought into a modern context. Napoleon’s love of waterparks, in particular, is a treat.
Of course, they are working on a third movie, because Hollywood can’t leave anything alone.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Star Trek films are either great or terrible. Fortunately, this is one of the franchise’s better efforts.
The crew has to travel back to 1986 San Francisco to retrieve a pair of humpback whales, which are the only creatures capable of communicating with an alien probe that could wipe out earth in the future. While James T. Kirk, Spock, Bones et al were heading towards the twilight of their careers on the Enterprise at this point, this film is a lot of fun. It certainly is a breath of fresh air after the relative disappointment that was The Search for Spock, and is a much better entry than its successor, The Final Frontier.
The crew flies a Klingon Bird of Prey, Kirk gets involved with a woman (because of course he does), Chekov says “nuclear wessels” a bunch, and Scott, Bones, and Sulu give away the formula for transparent aluminum. It’s a fish-out-of-water story with an environmental message. What’s not to love?
Back to the Future (1985)
Great Scott! To be honest, there are a lot of strange elements in Back to the Future (how are Marty and Doc friends exactly?) but, somehow, it works. Young Marty McFly accidentally ends up travelling 30 years into the past to 1955. There, he encounters his mother and father as teenagers. Unfortunately, he inadvertently affects how the two first meet and must alter course before he and his siblings are erased from existence.
It is the film that brought terms like flux capacitor into the mainstream and made the DeLorean car a classic. Throughout the film, there is a lot of talk about the supposed “rules” and consequences of time travel, yet it doesn’t seem to really matter much in the end.
Naturally, the sequels never quite lived up to the promise of the original — even though the ending sets up the sequel beautifully — but the original is undoubtedly one of the best time travel movies of all time.
The Terminator (1984)
A robot from the future travels back in time to kill a woman whose unborn son will supposedly grow up to lead a resistance movement against the machines.
Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a cyborg assassin was perfect casting, as he has never been known as a thespian. Still, he plays his role well here as he mercilessly hunts for Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton).
The film is directed by James Cameron, who has delivered plenty of other big budget flicks like Aliens, Avatar, and Titanic.
This is one of the best action films of the 1980s, yet the sequel released in 1991 is even better. Unfortunately, none of the other sequels that have followed have lived up to such promise; there are now six films in the franchise, with the latest being released this weekend.
While 2029 seemed far away back when this film was released in 1984, it doesn’t seem so distant now. Hopefully, the machines won’t rise up against us over the next 10 years.
Enjoy the weekend knowing you don’t have to adjust all your clocks!
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
