Time travel movies: where to start, from easy to mind-bending
Updated November 2026
Few ideas are as irresistible as time travel. Fix a mistake, meet your parents when they were young, live the same day until you get it right. Cinema has returned to it again and again, in comedies, romances, action films and puzzles that need a notebook.
That variety is also the problem: some time travel films are a light Friday-night watch, others demand your full attention and a long conversation afterwards. Here they are, sorted by how hard your brain will have to work.
Easy: pure fun
Back to the Future (1985)
A teenager is accidentally sent back thirty years in a time-travelling car and has to make sure his parents still fall in love. Funny, fast and perfectly constructed. If you only watch one film on this list, make it this one.
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Two cheerful slackers travel through history collecting famous figures to pass a school presentation. Silly in the best way, and short.
Palm Springs (2020)
Two wedding guests get stuck reliving the same day. A time-loop romantic comedy that's sharp, funny and more thoughtful than it lets on.
Medium: with heart
Groundhog Day (1993)
The classic time loop: a cynical weatherman lives the same day over and over in a small town. It starts as a comedy and slowly becomes a story about becoming a better person.
About Time (2013)
A young man learns that the men in his family can travel back in time within their own lives, and uses it to find love. Romantic, gentle and, by the end, quietly devastating. Have tissues nearby.
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
A soldier who has never fought keeps dying on the first day of an alien invasion, and waking up the morning before. An action film with a time-loop structure that's clever and very entertaining.
Hard: pay attention
12 Monkeys (1995)
A prisoner from a ruined future is sent back to find the source of a deadly virus. Dark, strange and haunting, with a story that only fully clicks at the end.
Looper (2012)
A hitman who kills people sent back from the future is ordered to kill his own older self. A smart action thriller that plays fair with its rules.
Predestination (2014)
A time-travelling agent's final mission becomes an increasingly strange personal story. Say as little as possible before watching it.
Expert: you'll need to talk about it afterwards
Primer (2004)
Two engineers accidentally build a time machine in their garage. Made on a tiny budget, very technical and famously confusing; fans watch it several times and draw diagrams. Only for people who love a puzzle.
Tips
- Don't over-think the rules on easy nights. Light time travel films care about characters more than logic. Enjoy the ride.
- Watch the hard ones early in the evening. A puzzle film at midnight is a recipe for falling asleep and missing the key scene.
- Avoid spoilers. Twists are the point of many of these films. Don't read summaries first.
- Make it a marathon. One easy, one with heart and one hard makes a great time travel evening.
QuickFlick has a Time Travel collection with time travel films in one deck. Swipe through it and you'll often find something you didn't know existed.