Top 10 Time Travel Films by @MattMitrovich
When it comes to writing fiction, my
greatest influence has always been films. I don’t know exactly why
it is, but the visual medium seems to excite my creativity in ways
even the best books can’t match (and I have read a lot of books).
With the release of my new time travel story “Road Trip”
(published in the anthology Forbidden
Future) I decided to share some of the films that inspired me
to write it.
So without further ado, here is my
personal list (in no particular order) of the best time travel films
of all time. 
2)
Terminator: Although people remember this film mostly
as the supreme representation of the robot holocaust in American
cinema, we often forget that this is at heart a time travel tale.
Ignoring the killer robots (an
implausible concept to begin with) the characters in this film
and its sequels struggle to prevent doomsday and ultimately fail. No
matter what they do, the future they fear will come about, with John
Connor being the only silver lining.
3) Bill & Ted’s
Excellent Adventure: Not all time travel has to be serious.
Sometimes the only risk is not passing your history final. This
absurdly funny tale of two clueless, yet well-meaning, friends who
gather people of historical importance to come speak at their school
showcases a rare attempt to show what people from the past might
think of the contemporary era. Now if only they picked up Theodore
Roosevelt…
5) Army of Darkness:
At the end of Evil Dead 2 (or was it just the actual first
remake of Evil Dead…hmm) our hero Ash finds himself in the
Medieval era being terrorized by deadites. Not only does this film
cement Ash as the premier zombie killer of all time, it shows that
even (comedy) horror films can use time travel proving just how
versatile the trope is.
7) Donnie Darko:
Time travel doesn’t always have to make sense to make the story
good. Donnie Darko proves that. It is one of those films you
need to watch twice. Once just to get the gist of the plot and again
just to catch everything you missed. It is too bad this film did so
poorly at the box office, but I highly recommend this thinking man’s
time travel film.
8) Star Trek:
The JJ Abrams reboot was an amazing use of time travel as a means
of creating alternate timelines. Ingeniously he got around decades of
canon so that new fans could enjoy the film, while at the same time
keeping it within the rules of the constructed universe. Sadly, I
don’t think he will be to do the same thing twice for Star Wars…
9) Flight of the
Navigator: For a kid’s film, Flight has some
pretty heady hard SF content, like time dilation due to traveling
faster than the speed of light. With so much mainstream SF just
hand-waving away real science, it is great to see someone tackle it
in a kid’s movie. If we want kids to do better at science, get them
interested in film like this.
These, of course, are just a few of
the many time travel films out there. If there is something you think
I missed, let me know in the comments.
Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new short story "Road Trip" can be found in Forbidden Future: A Time Travel Anthology. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
About
Matt Mitrovich
Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new short story "Road Trip" can be found in Forbidden Future: A Time Travel Anthology. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
