The 10 Most Mind-Blowing Time Travel Movies

GFR SCORE

In one of our 10 best mind-blowing time travel movies, we begin in the 19^th Century, where we find H.G. Wells, played by Malcolm McDowell, discussing his new invention, the time machine. Enter John Leslie Stevenson, played with menacing delight by David Warner, who has committed a nasty crime or two and is in need of an escape. He chooses Wells’ time machine, and off to the future, Stevenson goes to continue his reign of terror. Oh yeah, Stevenson is also known as Jack the Ripper.

Wells discovers that his ex-friend has gone to the future, and when the machine returns, Wells follows him. They both end up in 1979 San Francisco, where “Jack” begins to return to his gruesome form, and Wells is on the hunt to stop him.

Along the way, Wells falls for bank clerk Amy (Mary Steenburgen), on whom Jack sets his sights and knife upon. The fun of Time After Time is in watching Wells try to adapt to the 1979 lifestyle while trying to keep Amy safe and track down one of the most notorious killers of all time.

GFR SCORE

Sometimes, time travel doesn’t have to be years or centuries, it can be minutes. In Source Code, that is exactly what you get with this action thriller that stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, and Jeffrey Wright.

Gyllenhaal stars as U.S. Army pilot Colter Stevens who finds himself waking up on a commuter train, unsure of his surroundings. As he tries to get his bearings, he can see his reflection in a window and it is not him, but instead, a school teacher named Sean Fentress. Stevens begins to express his confusion when the train explodes.

This time when he wakes, he is in a cockpit, and through a video screen, he is informed that he is on a mission to find out who the train bomber is. Stevens is back on the train where he finds the bomb, but thinking he is in a simulation, he heads back to the main cabin right before the bomb explodes again.

A lot can happen in eight minutes, as Stevens soon finds out. Will he find the bomber? Is there much more to what meets the eye? Check out Source Code.

GFR SCORE

There is nothing wrong with a little ass-kicking with your time travel, is there? That is exactly what you get with this Arnold Schwarzenegger blockbuster that was just the beginning of a billion-dollar franchise.

In The Terminator the time traveler, a cyborg assassin, comes from the future with the bad intention of killing Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). Sarah is fated to have a son who will save mankind from extinction.

To help stop the cyborg from completing his mission, also sent from the future is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn). Kyle is human tasked to use any means necessary to stop the unstoppable.

The action is plenty, the violence is fierce, and it is a whole lot of fun. This film spawned five more in the franchise and at least one more of them was really good.

GFR SCORE

Somewhere in Time requires viewers to push the boundaries of their ability to suspend disbelief. It uses a very different method to get its characters back in time.

In Somewhere in Time, characters use self-hypnosis to travel through the ages.

The movie is a tragic romance tale starring Christopher Reeve (of Superman fame) as Richard Collier, a playwright who falls for a picture of a young woman, actress Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour).

Collier sees her picture at the Grand Hotel, situated on Mackinac Island, Michigan, and becomes obsessed. During his obsession, he discovers a way to travel back in time which includes self-hypnosis.

Richard finally gives it a try, locking himself away and wearing early 20th-century clothing. His first attempt doesn’t work, but after finding a 1912 guest book that has his signature on it, he is more determined than ever to go back.

His second attempt is successful, and when he wakes, he finds himself in 1912 along with Elise McKenna. But for how long?

GFR SCORE

Timecop gives viewers more ass-kicking to go along with more time travel. This one stars Jean-Claude Van Damme in what would become the highest-grossing film of his career.

The story tells of Max Walker, who starts as a police officer and later a federal agent around when time travel is made possible.

As a federal agent, Walker is tasked with fighting time travel crime. He is also looking into a politician (Ron Silver) whom he believes is corrupt and may have had a hand in the death of Walker’s wife, Melissa (Mia Sara).

The film bounces back and forth from 1994 to 2004 as Walker tries to put the pieces together while figuring out how to take down the dirty politician. Along the way he’s also trying to find a way to save his wife from her death in 1994.

GFR SCORE

If you like your time travel movies with a little bit of “crazy” mixed in, then 12 Monkeys should be right up your alley. The film was directed by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame and stars Bruce Willis and, in rare form, Brad Pitt.

When we first meet James Cole (Willis) it is 2035 and he is a prisoner of the state. He is offered parole if he agrees to travel back in time to stop the plague that pretty much wiped out the world. Those who survived now live underground as the air remains poisonous.

Cole is sent back to 1990, six years before the plague begins, but is soon sent to a psychiatric facility because his warnings sound like he is a crazy man. After meeting a scientist (Madeline Stowe) and Brad Pitt’s over-the-top- crazy Jeffrey Goines, Cole returns to 2035 before ending up when he should be, in 1996. But as he gets closer to the answers he is looking for, he begins to question his own sanity and also tries to determine if Goines is the actual key to it all.

GFR SCORE

Here is one more time travel yarn starring Bruce Willis. This one, penned and directed by Knives Out kingpin Rian Johnson, tells a complicated time travel story about assassins, or “loopers,” who work for a crime syndicate out of Kansas City.

In the future, tracking systems have made it impossible for the syndicates to dispose of bodies undetected. So, they send bodies back in time to be executed.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Joe, an assassin ready for his next job. When his next job arrives, it is his older self (Willis) from the future. Before young Joe can kill Old Joe, the elder is able to escape.

From there, audiences are dealing with two or more versions of Joe, a number of time jumps, and much head scratching. You may need to watch this film a couple of times to piece it all together.

GFR SCORE

Live, die, repeat. It’s pretty simple in this time travel film that sees star Tom Cruise die again and again and again and…well, you get the picture. Cruise is Major William Cage who has never seen battle in his life. Yet when an alien race threatens human extinction, Cage is thrown into battle where he immediately loses his life.

Somehow, Cage is brought back to fight that same battle, each time losing his life. But what he begins to realize, each and every time he is brought back, he is learning more and more about the battle and what it will take to stop the alien invasion. The film also stars Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, and Brendan Gleeson.

GFR SCORE

In Predestination, Ethan Hawke stars as The Barkeep, a temporal agent searching through time for the one criminal who he has never been able to track down. It is his final assignment, finding the “Fizzle Bomber” who is responsible for killing thousands.

Hawke finds himself jumping through time from the ‘60s to the ‘70s and back again in order to track down the infamous and slippery bomber. Throughout this time, Hawke’s Barkeep comes across characters who cause him to question his own existence.

The plot is a complicated one, involving reconstructive surgery, gender reassignment, and a twisted love story. You will need to pay close attention to get through it all.

GFR SCORE

Back to the Future is one of the best movies and one of the best time travel movies of all time.

Michael J. Fox stars as Marty McFly, a high schooler who feels he is on the road to becoming his parents, a depressed mother, and a timid father, although he has big aspirations. One night he meets up with his scientist friend, Doc Brown in a parking lot where the eccentric Brown unveils his Delorean time machine.

The Doc explains how he created it, along with the fact it is powered by plutonium confiscated from Libyan terrorists. Those terrorists happen to show up, wanting payback.

As Marty escapes in the Delorean, he sees Doc Brown get gunned down. Marty accidentally engages the time circuits, and when the car hits 88 miles per hour, he is sent back in time to 1955.

Now back in 1955. Marty must figure out how to get back to his present day. Along the way, he accidentally stops his parents from falling in love, which is one more item on his list of to-dos. Back to the Future is a ton of fun mixed with some good music and action.