13 Great Time Travel Films

13 Great Time Travel Films

I haven't ordered this list. My feelings on films are not at all objective. I just think these are fun movies to watch.

Frequently Asked Questions about Time Travel

This is a fun British comedy from 2009 about a trio of friends who find themselves time traveling through the toilet on one strange night at the pub. The time travel begins as a novel experience and reveals itself to be a trap they need to survive. The action restricts itself to the pub at different points in time. I caught this film for the first time on cable. This began me on a frustrating journey to find it. I was surprised when it just turned up on HBO on demand one day and rendered all efforts moot.

Star Trek - First Contact

The second film in the Enterprise series of Star Trek movies came out in 1996. The Enterprise travels back in time to stop the Borg from disrupting humanity's first contact with an extraterrestrial species. We see the consequences the crew is fighting against in the beginning when they see an Earth taken by the Borg. They meet a figure from their history and learn the truth behind the icon. This is my personal favorite Star Trek film. I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation and this built on some heavy moments from the series without requiring a deep knowledge of the series. It had one of the strongest villains.

Back to the Future

Marty McFly travels from 1985 to 1955 in a Delorean. After he accidentally stops his parents from meeting, he has to make sure his parents fall in love or face oblivion. I loved seeing it in the theater. I rented a theater to take my nephews making it the first film they saw in the theater. This is one of my favorite film novelizations. It's a great read.

Groundhog Day

This 1993 film created a shorthand for a feeling. You can have a deja vu or a day can feel like Groundhog Day and no one means it feels like a rodent told them when winter would end. A self-centered weatherman is stranded in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania reliving the same day until he can grow as a person. This is a type of time anomaly that has been repeated in many films since then including a few on this list. They didn't need a redo to get the idea right. They just did it differently on the subsequent efforts. They nailed it on the first try.

Happy Death Day

2017's slasher time travel comedy stars Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard. A college student relives the day of her death until she can identify her murderer and prevent her own death to live to see the next day. I saw this movie in the theater with my mom. I was expecting to get really freaked out but it's not a scary movie and I was happy that it didn't scare me. I like comedies and adventures better than scary movies. I love seeing the protagonist fight back.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

A pair of affable high school students must pass history to ensure their future and the future of the world. George Carlin, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in a 1989 classic. I learn air guitar from this movie. I didn't know anything about Doctor Who until years after I saw this movie for the first time. Even then, it took me awhile to draw that line between phonebooth and police callbox.

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey

Bill and Ted return in 1991 as a pair of aspiring rock stars who still need help from the future. I have seen this film more times than the original because it was on cable all the time. That demon bunny really freaked me out.

About Time

Rachel McAdams was in two films where she has time traveling husbands. This is the one that came out in 2013 and has the husband with a better grasp on his time travel tricks. Domhnall Gleeson uses his ability to travel through time to have his perfect life. It's about love...romantic and familial.

Terminator 2

A reprogrammed obsolete Terminator is sent back in time to save John Connor from a newer model.

Terminator

Sarah Connor meets a man and a machine from the future. She is drawn into a future war. Future War is also a time travel film but it's not very good and it has dinosaurs.

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things

In this 2021 comedic, romantic film, two high school students map the perfect moments of a single day. This is your typical Groundhog Day scenario but it has charismatic leads and a heartfelt story. I liked the solution to ending the repeating day.

Edge of Tomorrow

Tom Cruise must navigate a warzone and a time loop after he's exposed to extraterrestrial blood. The aliens are using their ability to loop time so they can gradually defeat the humans.

Arrival

This 2016 drama stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner as members of a team making first contact with an alien species. Amy Adams plays a linguistics professor who learns the alien language and it changes her perception of time.