My second favorite kind of sci-fi movie is the time-travel / time-paradox movie, and Denzel Washington’s latest Deja Vu is a pretty good addition to this genre. It suffers from a few small illogical connections or loose ends (easy to have in a time-paradox film), and felt a bit like they left a few important facts out for time’s sake (no pun intended). Overall, really nice time thriller. The main lesson? You can make a difference if you push the envelope!
The other movies in this genre I have really enjoyed include:
- Memento – Though this was not really a time-travel movie, the way in which it was filmed, and the main character’s memory problem forced you to try to connect events in time. Nice. The lesson learned? We often prefer self-deception to the truth.
- The
Jacket – a nice movie where the time traveler gets revenge on his tormentors. The lesson? Don’t be mean to crazy people. - The Butterfly
Effect – probably my second favorite film in this genre. The lesson? If you try to go back and change events, you fix one thing, but screw up another. - Back to the
Future – the king of time-travel movies, I love all three. The lesson? The future isn’t written yet, so make it a good one. - Donnie
Darko – I actually had to look this one up on the internet to figure out what happened. Seeing the Director’s Cut made it a lot clearer, since you actually got enough info to piece things together – not so in the theater version. This is not one of my favorites, and is a little too dark and dreary for me. Lesson? Time travel can make you insane.
Any others in this genre I should see?