time travel film primer

The Best, Most Realistic Movie About Time Travel Cost $7,000

"I will show you the most important thing that any living organism has ever witnessed."

The Big Picture

• Primer , created on a budget of $7,000, became a cult classic and won multiple awards.
• The film's complex plot, lack of exposition, and fast-paced editing can make it difficult to follow and understand.
• Primer 's low budget contributes to its realistic feel, making it relatable and believable for viewers.

If ever a film were brought into existence through the sheer force of one man's will, 2004's Primer is it. Over the course of three years, creator Shane Carruth (who was in his late 20s at the inception) wrote, directed, produced, edited, starred in, and wrote the score for the incredibly innovative, super-grounded sci-fi, all on a budget of $7,000. Primer would go on to win the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Alfred P. Sloan Prize and become a beloved sci-fi cult classic.

Primer is the story of Aaron (Carruth) and Abe ( David Sullivan ), two engineers who accidentally stumble onto time travel while working on other projects in Aaron's garage. The time machine itself is a simple, cramped box made mostly of PVC — no shiny DeLorean , no dimension-hopping T.A.R.D.I.S. — but what makes this version of time travel unique is that in order to travel back in time, the traveler must spend an equivalent amount of time inside the box. In other words, to travel six hours into the past, you must spend six hours in the box.

Immediately after their discovery, Aaron and Abe are ultra careful not to influence the past during their brief trips through time, fearing consequences they can't even guess at. But eventually, the temptation to change history becomes too great, and Aaron in particular becomes obsessed with his ability to dictate the outcomes of events. This creates multiple complex, interwoven timelines and ultimately leads to a rift between the two characters.

Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.

'Primer' Can Be Tough To Follow

Primer is famously cerebral , refusing to hold the audience's hand at any point. The two leads speak in arcane physics jargon throughout because Carruth was adamant that the dialogue should sound authentic. The tight (and, at times, perhaps over-tuned) editing keeps Primer fast-paced; no one will catch every detail of the complicated plot the first time through . Primer is also very light on exposition — the characters often have long conversations about topics that the audience, at least at first, has no context for. Only in the last third of the movie does the voiceover dip in more heavily and start explaining things, though often cryptically.

Between the complexity of the story, the jargon, and the pacing, Primer can be a challenge to follow ; some critics have even called it "antagonistic" toward the audience. But that wasn't Carruth's goal. Instead, as Carruth told IndieWire , "the information is in there" to create a coherent story; it just might take multiple viewings for you to get it all. But unlike some modern filmmakers who don't trust their audience to make inferences and instead prefer to spell everything out, Carruth trusts not only his audience's intelligence, but their fortitude — perhaps a bit too much at times.

The 21st Century’s Best Time Travel Movie So Far Is a Low-Budget Rom-Com

If Primer was an unlikely hit, then its creator was an equally unlikely filmmaker. Carruth has a degree in math and started his career as an engineer before quitting to pursue writing. (This training would turn out to be useful in the course of writing the script, though Carruth had to learn physics jargon by reading graduate students' papers online .) With no formal background in filmmaking, he taught himself scriptwriting, cinematography, and storyboarding in the process of making Primer . Carruth said during his interview with IndieWire that he never planned on starring in the film; he cast himself as one of Primer 's leads only because he had difficulty finding an actor who played the part the way he wanted it , with subtlety rather than drama, and with his ultra-low budget , he worried that someone else might cut and run in the middle of shooting, leaving them stranded.

Perhaps surprisingly, the acting is one of Primer 's biggest strengths . Either Carruth or Sullivan (who's gone on to have a broad and successful TV career) is in every scene, so the film rests entirely on their shoulders. Both performances are subdued and understated, yet a great deal of subtext lies just beneath the surface.

How Was 'Primer' Made?

After months of rehearsals, shooting took place over five weeks around Dallas, where Carruth lived at the time. Primer was shot on super 16 film; Carruth said during his IndieWire interview that he had considered going digital, but in the early 2000s, the technology wasn't yet there to create the look he wanted. However, this meant there was no budget for multiple takes . Once shooting was complete, Carruth did the editing himself, again learning the process as he went along and often having to edit around lack of footage and continuity errors. He also composed the score, a task he said he'd enjoy handing off to someone else the next time around.

In some ways, the story of Primer mirrors the story of its creation. Before their break-through discovery, Aaron and Abe, like Shane Carruth, are cash-strapped; they even vandalize their own cars and refrigerators for parts in their quest to create something people will want to buy. Carruth, too, had to cut corners due to lack of funds , using friends' and family's houses and apartments for many of the locations, relying on ambient lighting and sunlight, filming only a single take for many scenes because he couldn't afford to waste film.

And like his character, Carruth claims to be a "control freak." Primer starts out following four engineers working on patents in Aaron's garage, but as soon as Aaron and Abe realize what they've stumbled onto, Aaron insists on cutting out their two unwitting colleagues rather than revealing the truth to them. He also doesn't let his wife in on the secret, to Abe's surprise. And Aaron is the first one tempted to use the time machine to change the past, leading to his falling out with Abe. Carruth performed every job in the course of making Primer partly because he couldn't afford to hire anyone else, but also because he couldn't stand to give up control , a quality that he doesn't apologize for, because, as he says during his IndieWire interview, "it’s important to feel strongly about the material you’re working on."

The Low Budget Gives 'Primer' a Documentary Feel

The result? Primer 's ultra-low budget contributes to its grounded realism — there are no Avengers: Endgame or even Back to the Future -style special effects, and the main characters never travel more than a few days into the past, so fancy set pieces are unnecessary. Instead, Primer feels incredibly real, even documentary-like (the fact that the actors clearly haven't had professional hairstyling or makeup and appear to be wearing their own clothes contributes to this). Watching Primer , you can actually believe that if two smart but ultimately ordinary guys happened upon time travel by accident, this is exactly how it would play out.

After Primer 's success at Sundance, it had a very limited theatrical release, playing in no more than 31 theaters at a time over the course of a few months yet still bringing in over $400,000 at the domestic box office . Primer 's DVD release the following year quickly vaulted it to cult classic status, particularly among science fiction aficionados. Its complexity contributes to its rewatchability : after your third, fourth, or tenth viewing, you'll still be catching details you haven't noticed before.

Primer isn't for the faint-of-heart film viewer; it asks more of its audience than most films, and gives less. But serious sci-fi lovers and fans of movies that make you think should consider it a must-watch — and don't feel bad if you have to Google "Primer ending explained" after the fact.

Primer is available to rent on Prime Video and Apple TV+.

Rent on Prime Video

Primer Ending, Explained

‘Primer’ is not just a film; it is an elaborate science puzzle. It is a film that makes ‘Inception’ look like a pizza commercial. To fully understand each and every aspect of ‘Primer’ requires multiple viewings. When you finally “get” the film, don’t be surprised if you feel ecstatic and victorious, not very different from how you feel when you are able to solve a difficult puzzle.

But was ‘Primer’ intentionally made so dense and complex? Well, the answer to that only Shane Carruth, writer and director of the film, may know, but my best guess is that he had no other choice. First of all, the film was made at a shoe-string budget of just $7000. So, that limits several liberties that Carruth could have taken if he had more budget — for e.g. he could have utilized visual effects. Secondly, the way time travel has been inter-woven in the plot of the film, any simplification would have ruined the fun.

In any case, ‘Primer’, today, has a strong cult following. And it may have its extremely complex plot to thank for it. In my all movie-viewing experience, I am yet to see a film that required so many viewings to understand it. And now that I have done all the hard work — watch, make notes, research, watch again, research again — to fully understand the film, I thought why not spread the wealth.

The Plot, in Short

Two friends (sort of, accidentally) invent a form of time travel. Initially, they think of using it just to make money, but soon selfishness and shortsightedness lead them to create so many overlapping timelines (at least 9) that they lose control of themselves, their friendship, and the technology.

Time Machine: How it Works?

Irrespective of the science behind the time machine — I would even suggest not to get distracted by the science — the time machine (or the “Box”) itself has a simple way of functioning. You switch on the machine and leave it on till however amount of time you want to go back in time. So, for e.g. if you switch it on at 9 am today and leave it on for 6 hours till 3 pm, and then go inside the box at 3 pm, you will come out of the machine at 9 am, effectively traveling 6 hours back in time. This simple diagram explains the concept of time travel in the film very well ( Source  ).

Things to Remember When You Watch (Re-watch) the film:

1. The first 10 minutes is dedicated to building the two main characters — Abe and Aaron. Nothing much happens in the first few minutes except two guys trying to sell patents.

2. Between minutes 10-20 (roughly), the actual time machine gets invented (accidentally). Again, the science behind the machine is not important to the plot. The way the machine works is (as explained above).

3. At around the 20th minute, the scene where you see Abe looking from atop a roof, is the first time characters have started time-traveling or rather, have already time-traveled — even though, the two characters are shown entering the machine much later at around the 35th minute.

4. Pay attention to Aaron wearing his earpiece when Abe approaches him. Why is he wearing an earpiece and what must he be listening to (This is revealed in the later stages of the film)

5. There are two important turning points in the film. First, when Aaron expresses the desire to punch his boss (Platts) to Abe. And second, when Aaron receives a call at the hotel from his wife and then the same call again outside a restaurant. The second incident proved to both of them that history can be changed when time-traveling — both of them didn’t know this earlier. Once, it is known that history can be changed, it becomes tempting for both to return to the past and change events.

6. Failsafe machine. More on it below.

7. Thomas Granger. Pay attention to the name. It is his presence (the self that time-traveled from the future) that causes everything to go haywire.

8. The timelines. The main plot in the film effectively takes place within a span of 6 days from Sunday to Friday. Of course, though, there are certain events that take place more than once.

9. Time machines (i.e. boxes) are foldable and hence can be carried inside another box.

What is Failsafe Machine?

As the name indicates, “Failsafe Machine” was an additional time-machine that Abe had built to ensure that if things go wrong in the future, he could return to a point where he hadn’t started time-traveling — he switched it on at Sunday 9 am (he starts time-traveling from Monday 9 am). But what Abe didn’t know is that Aaron had become aware of the failsafe machine and used it to travel in the past before him.

Who’s Narrating the Film?

Aaron to Aaron. Confused? Once, the sequence of time-traveling begins, there are actually three Aarons and two Abes existing at the same time. The voiceover that you hear in the film is actually Aaron 2 leaving a message for Aaron 1.

Full Explanation

Now that you are aware of the basic details and what to look for in the film, here ‘s an excellent video that explains the film very well. It’s a little long, therefore, be patient.

Final Thoughts

Films like ‘Primer’ are not made every day. While some may argue that why make a film that isn’t meant to be understood by everyone. My counter-argument to that is why should every film be for everyone. If you don’t have the patience or the willingness to invest your mind and time into a film then certainly avoid ‘Primer’. But if you do, there can’t be a better mental exercise than ‘Primer’. For those who want to delve deeper, here’s  an actual research paper that talks about ‘Primer’ in great mathematical detail and here’s a detailed chart explaining all the timelines. Another chart that you can find here explains both the timeline and the plot. For others, who have had enough of ‘Primer’, I would suggest watching Shane Carruth second film ‘Upstream Color’, which in my opinion (that you can read here ) is even a better film than Primer.

Read More: ‘Donnie Darko’, Explained

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At Last, A Definitive Timeline for Primer

There’s a reason I’m posting this as the last official article of the week, because it’s probably going to take you all weekend (and then some) to figure it out.

Primer is a great sci-fi film, but one of the most confusing movies ever made. It takes the subject of time travel, and all the implications that follow, and lays them out in the most complicated, but accurate fashion possible. It takes a LOT of analysis to fully understand the film, and even though I thought I did, this chart proves me wrong.

Anything in this you’d care to dispute? I can imagine coming back to this post on Monday and seeing a million responses with different interpretations.

I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point.

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18 Comments

If you haven’t seen this film (like me), this short info graph will fling you in the right direction of the movie info graph: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Time_Travel_Method-2.svg (How time travel works in Primer)

Just now finding this, huh? It’s been around for at least five years, which is when I simply Googled “primer timeline”.

After a cursory inspection, this diagram for what happens in Primer seems plausible to me. I wish it had been worded more carefully, though–I kept stumbling over awkward expressions. But I thank you for the work.

My main reaction to the movie is like what I felt about Inception, although for a different reason. In Inception, Christopher Nolan wasn’t content to use his modestly clever idea once; he just had to do it four times. Yet he explained everything at every step of the way, so his dream-within-a-dream recursion became surprisingly boring. Shane Carruth similarly felt he had to complicate his story, but, taking the opposite tack from what Nolan later did, Carruth omitted things, under-explained what was happening. His film became annoyingly inscrutable. In both cases, my basic reaction was “Why?”

Inception seemed to me mostly pointless, but I’ll leave that alone as it’s not the subject at hand here. If Primer has some value other than the puzzle it presents, then the complexity of what Carruth presents is actually a detriment. I think there is some value to his tale (beyond the puzzle, that is); it’s the value of seeing the human consequences of a new scientific power. But I wish he hadn’t fragmented and obscured it so much.

I don’t agree. I think the complexity of the film makes discerning the ‘value’ all that much more rewarding. If you pay close attention to what happens throughout, you can see the evolution of the character of Aaron (and to a lesser extent Abe) and how the ability to be prescient has adversely affected his ethics and morality. Even when presented with a situation in which his actions, intended to be positive, had an adverse outcome, he still soldiered on as if he could continue to manipulate events to his advantage and desired outcome. Only… it isn’t actually possible. That is what is too complex: trying to contain and control that many variables.

So while I can understand why people think it may be too complex, I think it only becomes more satisfying with repeat viewings.

A movie is what it is, it can be everything at the same time. There are thousands of movies out there, something diferent for a while doesnt hurt.

This chart is amazing but I found at least one problem. The chart indicates the party takes place on Tuesday the 23rd, but in the movie Aaron clearly says the party was the night that Abe told him about how the machine works, which would mean it happens Monday the 22nd.

Does your diagram confirm / agree with the inconsistencies with Aaron’s refrigerator? During the first (!) revision in Aaron’s Kitchen we see a new refrigerator with a bow on it (presumably a present). Later (!!) we see that Aaron’s refrigerator is now a white one that Abe is salvaging copper tubing from. Clearly this is meant to be in different timelines. I’ve gotta study this diagram for a while now.

The White one is the one in Abe’s place. You can see the guy he talks to when he wakes up to meet Aaron at the door later sitting on the couch while Aaron’s preparing to take the fridge apart. I think his name was Brad.

Shawn: I believe that the white fridge is actually in Abe’s house…

no, no the white fridge was their old fridge. The black was a new christmas gift. They were getting materials out of the old one.This has nothing to to with time travel.

AWESOME!!! I have watched this flick at least 20 times , I have a pretty good handle on it but this has finally given me closure. Thanx!!!!!

Paul, did you author this chart? I ask, because there’s so much not appearing in the yellow boxes, it seems like something the scriptwriter might’ve cooked up to help with getting the script correct!

Either way, fascinating info. Let us know!

I don’t know where to start with the diagram when watching the film.

*SPOILERS* DON’T READ IF YOU DON’T WANT THINGS REVEALED TO YOU, THANKS.

I read over this and question some of it. For instance, the part about the phone call to Aaron. It lists that the Aaron at the hotel didn’t receive the call. It would make more sense that both received the call, cause Aaron (4) answered the call, but Aaron (5) simply lets it ring and doesn’t answer the call, allowing Aaron (4) to answer it instead. This seems confusing to many cause they want so desperately to think they broke symmetry, then in actuality they both got the call and nothing truly changes from the world’s point of view. If Aaron (5) would have answered the call, then, that would have been a different story. The second part that confuses is the part about Abe (3) starting the machines and then leaving. It says he starts them to do an experiment with paradoxes. After Abe (3) and Aaron (4) enter the boxes and time travel at 15:00, it says Abe (3) then starts the machines at 16:45, and they warm up at 17:00. How could he start the boxes if he already time traveled? I understand he was experimenting with paradoxes, but his still being there is odd since he can’t physically split in two. The paradox would have to be something with his actions of the day, not something that happened unhappening. That’s just silly thinking in the reality of it all. A mistype perhaps? 3 Meant 4, 4 meant 5, 5 meant 6, etc? The third part is when Thomas Granger (1) exits the machines too early and thus suffers from a coma later. To me, this all sounds too vague and makes little sense. Everyone overlooks the fact that Aaron says about the shooter firing at the party “He didn’t the time I wasn’t there, and the only time he does is when I rushed him…”. This leads me to believe that he did fire his weapon during at least one of the revisions. Remember when Abe and Aaron are discussing the Granger appearance in the storage locker? Abe asks “What if there’s an emergency?” Aaron states “I don’t know, what kind of emergency?” This points to something unseen and unknowable. Since Granger’s appearance, Abe and Aaron are aware that their frequent travel through time has caused too many instances of themselves, and despite their meticulous care in avoiding their immediate past doubles, too much changes and they’re unsure what their previous selves are doing. Rachel could have been shot, Causing Aaron to travel back to record the conversations and script his next attempt to disarm and jail the shooter. Abe most definitely felt the need to tell Granger as his daughter was harmed or killed, and that’s how everything unravels later. Another thing to remember is the phone call in the car. When Aaron recognizes Granger in the car, Abe calls Granger at home. Abe refers to himself as James Miller from Putney & Meyers, but Granger knows Abe’s voice at that point from the parties they attended to get funding for their project with the original box. This could have sparked curiosity in Granger, causing him to follow Abe, then traveling in one of the boxes once he discovered what Abe was doing. Too much of this is not shown, so all everyone can do it hypothesize. It would sound like the actions of a father trying to save his kin in my eyes. Hope some other people get as much thought out of this movie as I have. It’s interesting to think of all they have to risk every time they use the machines, and furthermore, how much more they have to risk every time they repeat using them. Think of a pile of, well, anything. You can balance it all only for so long. Once it all starts stacking too high, as in the price to pay being too dire, everything will come crashing down eventually. Consequences will go from petty to devastating the more you postpone the one true way to stop it, to never travel again. Greed, lies, deception, anger, hostility, sadness, despair, confusion, all a product of one singular action, the decision to change anything at all. Abe and Aaron tried to go back to the source. That source was right in front of them. “They” were trying to “change” what was to happen naturally, in an unfitting and unnatural way. Thanks for reading my input, cheers. ;D

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS TIMELINE, by the way. I just watched Primer and it’s great to see people so invested in intellectual films. I can’t imagine how long it took to create this!

I’m not sure if this is still active. I hope someone catches this.

There is a slight flaw in Timeline 7. At 15:00, it says there the Abe(3) and Aaron (4) enter their boxes. But at 16:45 Abe (3) starts up the timer for the boxes for the Platts punching plan. Can someone care to explain this?

What did you use to create this diagram?

What’s really happening is that every instance of time travel creates a brand new timeline. What we don’t see is the truly original timeline. Aaron and Abe went into the machine and were never seen again. However from their perspective, they appeared in the past (but in a new timeline). Their counterparts would eventually use time machines to leave this timeline and jump into a new one. As long as they were careful with interfering, they could have maintained this system and the time rules in this universe would have appeared to have been based on fixed time rules (you can never really change time). However they quickly discover this isn’t the case when they start messing with the timeline. They can change time as much as they want, however by preventing second version of themselves from using the machines to leave, they ended up stacking duplicates within the timeline. What we don’t see are the thousands of timelines spawning because of their interference. Mr Granger simply represents some sort of future disaster that they have caused. This panics them because they realise they aren’t in control anymore. Exactly why he came back isn’t really important but it could be related to rachel and the gun incident.

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Infographic: The Many Timelines Of Shane Carruth's Brilliant 'Primer'

Shane Carruth 's time-travel film Primer is one of the smartest sci-fi movies of the past decade. It is also a particularly compelling one because it tells a time-travel story with a very unadorned indie aesthetic. The look of the film may be born out of budget and necessity, but it makes Primer stand out, and makes the very detailed explanation of the film's mechanics feel more grounded, and consequently more effective. The film is Carruth's only movie, and we've been eagerly awaiting a follow-up. (So much so that word of his participation on Rian Johnson's new film Looper was enough to cause ripples of excitement.) Primer is meaty enough to withstand a great deal of conversation and scrutiny. As we wait for another film from the director, there is still plenty of territory to explore in his first. If you've already memorized the DVD commentary track, check out the infographic below, which seeks to sort out all of the film's many timelines. It could make the events of the movie more clear, but perhaps not at first glance.

This isn't going to do much for those who haven't seen the film, and you might need a refresher viewing to properly place all the details. A glance at this graphic , explaining the basic way time-travel works in the film, might help, too.

[ Unreality , via Badass Digest ]

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, 'primer' puzzles, fascinates with paradox.

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Shane Carruth 's "Primer" opens with four techheads addressing envelopes to possible investors; they seek venture capital for a machine they're building in the garage. They're not entirely sure what the machine does, although it certainly does something. Their dialogue is halfway between shop talk and one of those articles in Wired magazine that you never finish. We don't understand most of what they're saying, and neither, perhaps, do they, but we get the drift. Challenging us to listen closely, to half-understand what they half-understand, is one of the ways the film sucks us in.

They steal a catalytic converter for its platinum, and plunder a refrigerator for its freon. Their budget is so small, they could cash the checks on the bus. Aaron and Abe, agreeing that whatever they've invented, they're the ones who invented it, subtly eliminate the other two from the enterprise. They then regard something that looks like an insulated shipping container with wires and dials and coils stuff. This is odd: It secretes protein. More protein than it has time to secrete. Measuring the protein's rate of growth, they determine that one minute in the garage is equal to 1,347 minutes in the machine.

Is time in the machine different than time outside the machine? Apparently. But that would make it some kind of time machine, wouldn't it? Hard to believe. Aaron (Shane Carruth) and Abe ( David Sullivan ) ponder the machine and look at their results and Aaron concludes it is "the most important thing any living being has ever witnessed." But what is it?

There's a fascination in the way they talk with each other, quickly, softly, excitedly. It's better, actually, that we don't understand everything they say, because that makes us feel more like eavesdroppers and less like the passive audience for predigested dialogue. We can see where they're heading, especially after ... well, I don't want to give away some of the plot, and I may not understand the rest, but it would appear that they can travel through time. They learn this by seeing their doubles before they have even tried time travel -- proof that later they will travel back to now. Meanwhile (is that the word?) a larger model of the machine is/was assembled in a storage locker by them/their doubles.

Should they personally experiment with time travel? Yes, manifestly, because they already have. "I can think of no way in which this thing would be considered even remotely close to safe," one of them says. But they try it out, journeying into the recent past and buying some mutual funds they know will rise in value.

It seems to work. The side effect, however, is that occasionally there are two of them: the Abe or Aaron who originally lived through the time, and the one who has gone back to the time and is living through it simultaneously. One is a double. Which one? There is a shot where they watch "themselves" from a distance, and we assume those they're watching are themselves living in ordinary time, and they are themselves having traveled back to observe them. But which Abe or Aaron is the real one? If they met, how would they speak? If two sets of the same atoms exist in the same universe at the same time, where did the additional atoms come from? It can make you hungry, thinking about questions like that. "I haven't eaten since later this afternoon," one complains.

"Primer" is a puzzle film that will leave you wondering about paradoxes, loopholes, loose ends, events without explanation, chronologies that don't seem to fit. Abe and Aaron wonder, too, and what seems at first like a perfectly straightforward method for using the machine turns out to be alarmingly complicated; various generations of themselves and their actions prove impossible to keep straight. Carruth handles the problems in an admirably understated way; when one of the characters begins to bleed a little from an ear, what does that mean? Will he be injured in a past he has not yet visited? In that case, is he the double? What happened to the being who arrived at this moment the old-fashioned way, before having traveled back?

The movie delights me with its cocky confidence that the audience can keep up. "Primer" is a film for nerds, geeks, brainiacs, Academic Decathlon winners, programmers, philosophers and the kinds of people who have made it this far into the review. It will surely be hated by those who "go to the movies to be entertained," and embraced and debated by others, who will find it entertains the parts the others do not reach. It is maddening, fascinating and completely successful

Note: Carruth wrote, directed and edited the movie, composed the score, and starred in it. The budget was reportedly around $7,000, but that was enough: The movie never looks cheap, because every shot looks as it must look. In a New York Times interview, Carruth said he filmed largely in his own garage, and at times he was no more sure what he was creating than his characters were. "Primer" won the award for best drama at Sundance 2004.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Primer (2004)

Rated PG-13 for brief language

Shane Carruth as Aaron

David Sullivan as Abe

Casey Gooden as Robert

Anand Upadhyaya as Phillip

Carrie Crawford as Kara

Jay Butler as Metalshop Worker

Ashley Warren as Hostess

Directed and written by

• Shane Carruth

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7 Reasons Why “Primer” Is The Most Cerebral Time Travel Movie of All Time

Primer is an independent movie produced by first-time director Shane Carruth on that most micro of micro-budgets, $7000. After winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2004 it recouped a modest 200x return on investment at the box office. But the temporally-displaced fun was only beginning. Primer’s DVD release coincided with the early days of YouTube, and as high-level film discourse was suddenly democratized, few recent films merited sustained discussion more than this impossibly-complex piece of time travel kino.

Primer sometimes gets a bum rap as nothing more than a cinematic Sudoko puzzle. When Rian Johnson faced questions regarding the logic of Looper, he responded, “It’s not a film like Primer (…that deals in the complexities of time travel,) for instance, where the big part of the enjoyment is kind of working out all the intricacies of it. For Looper, I very much wanted it to be a more character-based movie that is more about how these characters dealt with the situation time travel has brought about. So the biggest challenge was figuring out how to not spend the whole movie explaining the rules and figure out how to put it out there in a way that made sense on some intuitive level for the audience; then get past it and deal with the real meat of the story.”

Even though Johnson and Carruth are friends, and Carruth was brought in as an advisor on Looper, Johnson sounds like he’s making a binary proposition: “Either a film can deal with the intricate complexity of time travel, or it can be about the human emotion involved in time travel.”

Perhaps only with the context of Carruth’s second feature, Upstream Color, did audiences realize that Primer, a dialog-heavy two-hander, was itself a character-driven work. Mixed up with the film’s massive jigsaw pieces are important questions around the ethics and emotions surrounding not just time travel, but also scientific innovation. According to Carruth, it’s these questions that give the film its title:

“I saw these guys as scientifically accomplished but ethically, morons. They never had any reasons before to have ethical questions. So when they’re hit with this device they’re blindsided by it. The first thing they do is make money with it. They’re not talking about the ethics of altering your former self. So to me, they’re kids, they’re like prep school kids basically. To call it a primer or a lesson was the easy way to go. And then there’s also this power they have in using the device is something almost worse than death. To put someone else in the position where they’re not sure they’re in control of anything. They’re not in the front of the line anymore and they’re living in someone’s past, to be secondary in that world. The thing that is most important is to feel like you’re at the front of the line, to be prime or primer. I definitely never wanted to say that in the film, but that’s where it comes from.”

All that being said, it is the film’s intricacy that’s made it such a cult phenomenon. So let’s dust off our thinking caps and look at some of the reasons Primer is the most cerebral time travel movie of all time.

1. Director Shane Carruth was a math major who developed flight simulators before making this passion project

In the annals of first-time filmmakers who’ve foregone the day job to pursue the cinematic dream, Shane Carruth’s journey is distinguished at every stage by a fierce intelligence. One of the foremost anxieties facing any newcomer to shooting on film is, “Just what is this going to look like?” It stands to reason that such concerns could be readily deduced away by a guy whose previous workplace deliverables involved teaching pilots how to keep airplanes in the sky.

As he told Indiewire, “Cinematography was incredibly foreign to me, so I read as much as I could about it. Once I figured out that it was just photography with a set shutter speed, I got some slide film and I just went about storyboarding the script and taking snapshots. I took a ton of time doing it just to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing. By the end of it I knew what the film was going to look like — my exposure and the composition and everything.”

He has said that “every inch of film we shot is used in that movie,” meaning he made the classic rookie mistake of essentially editing the film in the can. And yet as a result of his rigorous storyboarding, viewers would be hard-pressed to find a continuity error or glitch in the film’s cohesion. In addition to editing, casting, location scouting, writing, and acting in the film, Carruth also wrote the music. The score is never obtrusive, yet establishes a needling sense of the uncanny.

These renaissance man characteristics can be seen throughout Carruth’s career. His great lost work A Topiary called for expensive CGI effects, yet he hoped to make the film for under $15 million.

While many might shelve the effects, or sell out their vision to get a $100 million budget from the tentpole-industrial complex, Carruth set about teaching himself to develop his own CGI. The results are impressive. A Topiary never got made, but Carruth’s effects work can be seen briefly on a computer screen in Upstream Color.

2. Unlike other time travel films, it actually deals intelligently with issues of causality, free will, and predestination

Time travel films tend to be linear, and rather simplistic in nature. Think Back to the Future or Timecop; i.e., go back in time, change the past, return to your present, and now the present is different. But it’s been 120 years since H.G. Wells wrote The Time Machine.

The Higgs Boson was discovered. The Many Worlds interpretation has gained traction in even the most conservative circles. Current time travel hypotheses put forth by the likes of Michio Kaku involve time travel to a parallel worldline rather than a past identical to our own. Time travel enthusiasts are ready for a fresh take on the genre.

While Primer does not involve parallel worldlines, it does tackle many of the issues around predestination, causality and free will that plagued the traditional time travel narrative. The grandfather paradox is handled by putting short-term limits on the scope of the protagonist’s time travel options, in that they can’t go any further back in time than when the machine was initially turned on.

And while no less than five new Abes and six new Aarons are generated throughout seven different timelines, each new Abe or Aaron disappears into the past, while the previously-extant Abe and Aaron (or sometimes Aaron but not Abe, or Abe but not Aaron) take measures to avoid them.

This brings up tricky problems like, “If an alternate version of yourself possesses an alternate version of your cell phone, and someone calls it, which cell phone will ring first?” And when conflict between the Abes and Aarons does manifest, Carruth’s elegant handling of these interactions is at the root of the film’s brilliance.

3. Carruth refused to dumb down the scientific language

Parobalas, Feynman diagrams, and lines of dialog like, “This isn’t frame dragging or wormhole matching. It’s basic mechanics and heat,” work on two levels. The scientifically illiterate can be left out of the ‘causal’ loop, so long as they believe that Abe and Aaron know what they’re talking about.

For the eggheads in the crowd, it’s a treat when implausible assaults on credulity and good sense aren’t glossed over by a couple silly sounding words like flux capacitor.

4. Carruth had faith that the audience would return to the film for repeat viewings

Carruth himself said that only about 70% of the film would be accessible on the first viewing. Here Carruth is guilty of what so many great intellects do: crediting the slack-jawed masses with having cognitive ability comparable to his own.

Due to the film’s structure alone, it would be impossible for even the most astute viewer to comprehend everything during the first viewing. And for the average viewer, chances are they will be completely out in left field by the halfway point, and just hanging on for the ride by the three-quarter pole

“So that was the intention,” Carruth has said, “To make sure that the information is in there and that at least thematically I’m telling a solid story. So that if you care enough about it, if you liked it, and you want to take another look at it, by all means, the information is in there. That’s my favorite kind of film.”

5. Major plot points are glossed over in seemingly-irrelevant conversation, rewarding viewers who pay extremely close attention

Rarely has so little been spoken—or God forbid, shown—regarding key plot points. Take the pivotal Mr. Joseph Platts. The first reference to him is made obliquely during cross-talk between four people. Subsequent references seem no more significant and are easy to miss amidst the bombardment of information coming at the viewer.

Carruth gleefully breaks that most overstated of writer’s rules: “Show. Don’t tell.” He tells us everything by way of dialog. He shows us almost nothing. And while this may be the result of budgetary limitations, the film somehow emerges all the richer for it.

6. Like other puzzle films, Primer has created its own cottage industry of analysis and speculation

In 2017 we have it easy. After a confounding viewing or two, we can take to the Internet, read any number of detailed breakdowns, and refer to graphs that look like they’re lifted from Fundamentals of Physics before returning for a repeat viewing.

There are weighty podcasts of two- or three-hours duration, lengthy YouTube deconstructions complete with animated graphics, and a chart so dense and complicated that it is referred to by Primer obsessives as “the chart” in tones similar to how religious people might say, “The Bible.”

For the emotionally-stunted and validation-starved: Why not watch it for your third or fourth time with someone who is watching it for the first time. Start Netflix. “Hey, this looks neat.” And when the movie ends, explain every minute detail in a calm but lightly-patronizing tone.

7. Actual science people can’t get enough of it

The culture doesn’t offer much for the empirically-enthused set. Imagine pursuing a doctorate in condensed matter physics or the slightly-sexier accelerator physics, and you can’t even line up in the college cafeteria without overhearing some normie remark, “I’m such a nerd! I love The Big Bang Theory.” Actually, friend, you have been sold a bill of goods that consists largely of trumped-up grade school science.

As the YouTube analyses reveal, many first-time viewers of Primer are engineering students hanging out in dorms, writing plot points furiously upon white boards, drinking a lot of coffee before they start the second or third viewing, all while feeling cinematically alive for the first time in ages.

It’s not just students either. At a screening in Queens sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Carruth found himself on a panel with several esteemed scientists including “the guy who invented the laser scanner.” Ever humble, Carruth said of the event, “I don’t know if I’ve talked to anybody about what’s happening on a quantum mechanical level, or whether it’s plausible, or any of that. It seems like the scientific community is okay with it. I haven’t been chewed out yet.”

Author Bio: Mike Sauve has written about film for The National Post, Variety and Exclaim! Magazine. His novel “The Wraith of Skrellman” is narrated by a precocious, teenaged “upstart Jodorowsky scholar.” His novel “The Apocalypse of Lloyd” involves an apocalypse that is a Stanley Kubrick production featuring Dennis Hopper, strangely enough. His most recent book “Who Authored the John Titor Legend?” investigates the story of a self-proclaimed time traveller. He has discussed the subject of time travel on Coast to Coast AM, Fade to Black with Jimmy Church and a number of other radio programs and podcasts. Visit his website at www.mikesauve.com or reach him on Twitter @MPSauve.

4 Replies to “7 Reasons Why “Primer” Is The Most Cerebral Time Travel Movie of All Time”

5 reasons why “X reasons why Y is the most Z film” is the most annoying thing right now.

1: even though there can be some quasy objective reasons why some films are masterpieces, you can add up whatever reasons you like to why you find somethig great.

2: The “x reasons why” hype is so fucking annoying.

3: Are we getting dried up in making actual lists of films so we make lists of what we think on a particular film instead of making lists, while you just could write a tekst about it.

4: It’s an overrecycled idea.

5: the fact that you need to use your fingers to count the reasons to why just assumes that the general reader is an idiot.

I mostly dislike time travel stories but I like Primer. The plot has genuine surprises, and the flat tone of the movie works really well.

I ask the moderator of this site to give me 7 reasons why my comment was removed, I believe I had a valid and apropriate comment…

The film is a very low budget film and that is evident in its final form. Many scenes are crude and difficult due to the budgetary impossibility, for example, of matching a character and her double in the same shot. Any film is an unfriendly environment to solve a puzzle, but not a book, which allows more time for reflection and even stopping to assess the different branches of the argument.

The director’s statements show his desire to establish a rigorous game with the viewer, knowing that the latter will never be able to solve the mystery in a first viewing (or even in the second, third or more viewings).

It is still a tricky approach. and unfair. But the movie is interesting and the history (the how was it made) behind it looks great.

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Primer (2004) : Movie Plot Ending Explained

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Primer is a long lost movie that only has a cult following. It was made by Shane Carruth who also wrote the story and acted in it. He also produced it, edited it and worked on the production design. Heck, he even did the music for the film. He also had a pea-sized budget for the film. No CGI, no nothing. Yet he happened to create one of the most complex time travel movies which demands a 6-page explanation with timeline diagrams. Shane Carruth’s second film was Upstream Color which was a pretty cool concept too. This article is going to be a fully textual explanation because the diagrammatic representation of the timeline will need to be in 3 dimensions. Actually, I’m being lazy to create one but I have thrown in one timeline diagram in-between to explain the dynamics of Primer’s time travel. Here’s a detailed plot analysis and the ending of the film Primer explained, spoilers ahead.

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Oh, and if this article doesn’t answer all of your questions, drop me a comment or an FB chat message, and I’ll get you the answer .  You can find other film explanations using the search option on top of the site.

Here are links to the key aspects of the movie:

• – Plot Explanation
• – Explanation of A -> B
• – Explanation of the Time Travel
• – The 15min timer on the machine
• – Primer: All Timelines Explained
• – Ending Explained

The insignificant bits in Primer:

The movie starts off with 4 friends who work on side projects apart from their day jobs. Aaron, Abe, Robert, and Phillip are the 4 people. Ignore Robert and Phillip, they will go away soon. We care only for Aaron and Abe and the multiple instances of them in time we will try and follow.

Primer Explained: Story gets going

After a fall out, Abe and Aaron decide to team up on an invention that aims at reducing the gravitational effects on objects. In effect, reduce the weight of objects. However, things don’t go according to what they envision.

Abe meets Aaron on a park bench one morning and explains to Aaron that if he skips work, Abe will show Aaron the most important thing that any living organism has ever witnessed. Abe shows Aaron the object that has been in the machine for mere days but has protein build up that happens over many years. Abe gets Aaron to put a watch in the machine to see the time lapsed for the watch. Abe wants Aaron to confirm the findings.

They basically end up creating a device that sends the object put inside it back and forth through time. They also notice that the objects tend to make around 1300 trips back and forth. The explanation to this is not given attention to, something about probabilities that lead to exits from the time loop only after a minimum of 1300 loops. Abe then explains the A-to-B loop.

Primer: Explanation of A -> B that is drawn on paper

When the machine is turned on for a period of time, say 1 min, the object put inside it after 1 min starts going back and forth in time. If the machine was started at 12:00PM and the object is put inside at 12:01, the object travels back to 12:00PM and then back to 12:01PM. It keeps looping in this manner about 1300 times before it moves forward past the 12:01PM time. When the object is taken out soon after 12:01, it has already spent over 2600 min (because of the back and forth – 1300 x 2) inside the machine. 12:00PM is the A end. 12:01PM is the B end.

So the watch thrown in at the A end and Taken out on the B end, travels a total number of trips from A to B to A to B to A …. and finally to B. The total is odd. If the watch is thrown in at the B end, it travels a total number of trips from B to A to B to A … and finally to B. The total is even.

Primer: Time Travel Works

Abe tells Aaron how the machine seems to work, also adds that if the object was smart, it could enter at the B end and calculate an exit at the A end. This means that the “smart object” can travel back in time. Smart object being – a human being. Abe proceeds to take Aaron to a location and tells him what Aaron was going to witness was not a prank or a practical joke of any kind. Abe hands Arron a pair of binoculars and Arron sees another Abe walking in towards the building with an oxygen tank. Basically showing Aaron that the Abe has already travelled through time.

Primer: Explanation of the Time Travel

Classically, we are used to instant time travel. Person at time t1 just gets transported instantly to time t2 (like say in Predestination , Looper or Timecrimes ). That is not how time travel works in Primer. To travel back in time here’s what one has to do:

1) Start the machine at a time t1 (the A end), say 12:00PM 2) Wait for the machine to run, say 6hrs. Buy an oxygen tank. 3) Get into the machine after letting it run for 6hrs, this will be time t2 (the B end) 4) Be in the machine for 6hrs, while in the machine you are travelling back in time. You are travelling back at the rate of 1 min per min of your watch. So set your watch’s timer to 6hrs. 5) Use the oxygen tank to help you breathe for 6hrs in the box. 6) When the timer runs down to zero, it’s time to exit the box. When you exit the box, you will exit back at the A end, which is time t1, which is 12:00PM. Unlike other time travel movies, you cannot travel to a point before the machine was turned on. The time travel window is limited to when the machine was turned on.

What’s the deal with the 15min timer on the machine?

Imagine you exit at the A end at time t1 which is 12:00PM in the above scenario (step 6). You will run into your past self who would be turning on the machine (step 1). Running into your past self is not a good idea so you set a timer of 15min on the machine. This ensures that step 1 will happen 15min after you turn on the timer. This gives you enough time to get out of the area and your future self will not run into you.

Note : if you happen to exit the box before reaching the A end, then the chances of your brain getting fried is high. We’ll get back to this later.

Primer: All Timelines Explained

Aaron is mind-blown, realizes that the Abe he’s been with all day is an Abe from 6hrs into the future. The Abe he sees using the binoculars is the Abe from the present timeline. Aaron asks Abe what he did prior to entering the machine at the B end. Abe explains that after starting the timer, he checked-in to a hotel and disconnected from the world, no phones, no TV, no nothing. After 6hrs, he went back to the machine and got in.

Now we start counting timelines, every time someone travels back in time, it leads to a new timeline. The events in a timeline may not be different from another but it’s a new timeline nevertheless.

Primer Timeline 1:

Abe starts the machine, drives off in his car and checks into a hotel. Aaron is undisturbed so ends up going to work (They talk about this, but is not shown in Primer). Abe checks for stock prices and returns to the storage facility 6hrs later and enters the machine at the B end.

Primer Timeline 2:

Abe exits the box at the A end, is without a car and takes a taxi and stops Aaron from going to work, the two of them watch the Abe from Timeline 1 entering the storage facility using binoculars.

Aaron now wants to do exactly what Abe has done. They work on another box for Aaron and the next travel is set up – perhaps the next day. Both Aaron and Abe go to the storage facility, start the timer and head to the hotel room. They check-in and stay there. They look into stock prices so that when they go back in time, they can trade on the right stocks to make money. They return 6 hours later to the storage facility and get into their boxes at the B end.

Primer Timeline 3:

Abe and Aaron exit back in the morning. Aaron exits a little soon so he gets a zap. They go back and start filling in the life of Aaron and Abe who are in the hotel room. They know which stocks to buy and they buy.

Later another day, in the evening, Aaron and Abe are talking about what they want from their lives. Aaron mentions how he would go meet his boss, punch him in the face and then go back and tell himself to not punch the boss. That way, no one would get hurt, the incident wouldn’t happen but he would get to feel how it is to punch his boss. Abe tells Aaron that he can NOT do that, no changing history; it would lead to a paradox. Aaron’s wife also asks if Aaron called the pest control she feels there are rats in the attic. We’ll come back to the rats in the attic.

They go through their following days doing the time travel thing; we’ll ignore those timelines that they end up creating, nothing major there. They continue to make money off stocks. They also decide to not tell the other two friends Robert and Phillip. So you can’t continue to fully ignore Robert, Phillip can be ignored. On one of the days Aaron bleeds from his ears, it’s perhaps from all the time travelling.

On the night that Abe and Aaron do their first time travel, Robert throws a birthday party and Rachel’s ex-boyfriend walks in with a shotgun over an argument that they are having. Aaron intercepts Rachel’s boyfriend and saves the day. One morning Robert tells this to Abe. Abe is angry with Aaron for putting his life on the line without caring for his wife and kid. Abe mentions that Rachel is stupid to get into those scenarios. Aaron explains how the whole time travel was fresh in his head and he was not going to let Rachel’s ex scare people like that.

They continue time travelling the next day. They start the timer and head to the hotel room. When they are in the hotel room, Aaron gets a call because he forgets to switch off his mobile phone. He takes the call. Talks to his wife and hangs up. They get to the machine and enter the B end.

Primer Timeline 4:

(ignoring the multiple other times they may have traveled back, there is nothing eventful and the timelines are not altered from the original by much):

When they travel back to the start of the day, Aaron’s phone rings as it’s still in his pocket. Aaron doesn’t pick and this is a cause for worry, breaking the symmetry. They check to see if each other is feeling fine.

Explanation for the mobile phone bit:

On that day, let’s say Aaron and Abe start the timer at 11:45AM for 15min and leave to the hotel. At 12:00PM, the machine starts up. When in the room, say at about 2:00PM, Aaron gets a phone call. He picks it up. At 6:00PM, Aaron and Abe get into their machines and travel back in time to 12:00PM. Now, when they reach the 2:00PM time, Aaron’s (who’s travelled back) phone rings.

The concept of phone towers is that when a call is made to a phone number, a grid wise search for that phone is done, the first grid that finds the phone, rings the phone. Since the Aaron on the street has received the call, Aaron in the hotel room, would not have received this call, hence that talk with his wife wouldn’t have happened. That is the break in symmetry. But the call is not a very important one and hence doesn’t alter the timeline drastically.

Messing With Paradoxes:

That night, Aaron and Abe are woken up by a bunch of brats whacking cars with sticks setting off car alarms all over the road. They both stand in the kitchen and talk. Abe suggests an idea to mess around with a paradox. Abe and Aaron can leave right now to Aaron’s boss’ house, punch him in the face. Then get in to their boxes and travel back to the point in the night when the kids are whacking the cars. They scare the kids away. This will ensure that they are not woken up, they never have the conversation they are having, they would continue to wake up in the morning and prep the box and travel the usual 6 hrs. This action however would leave two sets of Aarons and Abes in the next timeline. But they don’t talk about that, the paradox is what they want to mess with. Aaron asks Abe how they are to travel back to this point as the machine is not on. Abe admits that he did leave the machine running at 5:00PM. So the two of them set off to experiment.

On way to the storage facility, they notice Rachel’s dad in a car sitting and just staring away. Aaron mentions that earlier in the day, her dad was all clean shaven, but this one in the car had a 3 day stubble. This means that the guy in the car has travelled back to this timeline. They call Rachel’s dad’s home number and he comes on the phone. This confirms that the guy in the car is from a future time. They chase him down, and Rachel’s dad from the future eventually faints. They take him home and stash him in the guest bedroom. Abe and Aaron go to the facility to see if the machines are fine, and they are. They start questioning each other if they ever planned on telling Rachel’s dad about the time machines. They both deny of having any such thought. They think of a hypothetical situation where there is an emergency, but they can’t point a finger to anything. The permutations were endless. It looked like he exited the box too quick and that ended up zapping his brain like we had mentioned before.

Rachel’s dad-from-the-future was in coma and vegetative. Abe worries about what he may have changed. For instance, if they didn’t see him sitting in the car, they would have been at the boss’ house punching him in the face. But instead they are at home talking about the comatose dad. Aaron feels nothing much could have changed. No further explanation is given to how Rachel’s dad may have used the time machine. The point of focus is that, the timelines are being terribly messed around with and that scares the daylights out of Abe.

Abe decides that the consequences of this time travel is just too dangerous. He tells Aaron about another machine which Abe has left running from before his very first time travel. This is referred to as the Failsafe. Abe’s Failsafe has been running from the very beginning. Abe plans on inducing a long-ass sleep and going back all the way to the beginning and stopping himself from ever travelling through time. That way everything would go back to being how they were supposed to be and will revert to Timeline 1. No time travel, no problems.

Primer Timeline <???>

Abe uses the Failsafe and goes back to Timeline 1 or at least he thinks he is. He drugs the original Abe from the timeline in his sleep. This ensures that his original self from the timeline doesn’t travel through time. After that, Abe-from-the-Failsafe lands up on the park bench to meet Aaron. His plan is to have a general conversation with Aaron and let him go to work. That way neither Aaron or Abe from the original timeline do their first time travel and everything will be undone. But the long-ass time-travel in the Failsafe has made Abe weak. What he also notices is that Aaron continues to have the same conversation they have in Timeline 2 regardless of what Abe says. As Abe falls to the ground, it is revealed that Aaron on the bench is simply following a recorded conversation that they had from Timeline 2. This means that Aaron is also from the future and is simply trying to re-act a conversation already had between him and Abe. Therefore this is not Timeline 1 or Timeline 2, this is some sort of an altered Timeline ???. We’ll get back to which timeline this is.

After Abe-from-the-Failsafe wakes up, he wants to know how this has happened. Aaron explains how he noticed the storage facility manifest having two rooms under the name of Abe. How Aaron already found the Failsafe machine. How Aaron realized that this was the “re-set everything” box. How Aaron didn’t like this.

Primer Timeline 1.1

Aaron decides to travel back in time using the Failsafe box (before Abe) right to the beginning. However, he takes with him collapsible version of the box with him back to the beginning. Taking back collapsible boxes back also means that he can end up doing more rounds of time travel in the same time window. If there was only one box, it can only be used by one person between the A end and the B end. This is because between the A and the B end, the machine has the person in it and can’t be switched off; it can kill the person inside, the person is inside is yourself, you don’t wanna kill yourself. Taking a box every trip back will give the ability to setup another machine once you exit. This gives the ability to do another trip back using the extra box.

Aaron, after using the Failsafe, drugs the Aaron of the original timeline (drugs the milk carton). This drugged Aaron is the person who is supposed to be on the park bench. But instead, he’s drugged and thrown in the attic. Remember the rats in the attic? That would be this Aaron, the first and original Aaron. Aaron-from-the-Failsafe now replaces Aaron-in-the-attic on the park bench (we never see this in Primer, it is inferred). He also decides to record all the conversations of the day. Important thing to note here is that this Aaron-from-the-Failsafe is the one narrating the story. He says “And that’s where I would have entered the story. Or exited, depending on your reference”.

Primer Timeline 1.2

Aaron-from-the-Failsafe, the narrator Aaron, uses the extra box to travel back again to the start of the day. Aaron-from-the-extra-box tries to take down Aaron-from-the-Failsafe (who has drugged the original Aaron). Aaron-from-the-extra-box has travelled a lot in time and is tired and is unable to subdue Aaron-from-the-Failsafe. However Aaron-from-the-Failsafe and Arron-from-the-extra-box talk it out. Aaron-from-the-extra-box has already lived the day and has recorded the events of the day, this is what Aaron-from-the-Failsafe was planning to do (and he does that in Timeline 1.1). Aaron-from-the-Failsafe understands that Aaron-from-the-extra-box has accomplished more in their common goal, hence Arron-from-the-Failsafe leaves.

Aaron-from-the-extra-box now encounters Abe-from-the-Failsafe while on the park bench, listening to the conversation that should have happened as per Timeline 1.1. But Abe faints instead. Timeline ??? from above is basically Timeline 1.2 and is what can be seen in the movie. And that is why we hear a recording of the dialogues from the ear piece. The recording is from Timeline 1.1.

Primer: What is Abe doing in Timeline 1.2?

Why hasn’t Abe gone back all the way to the beginning? After all he did use the Failsafe. Aaron who uses the Failsafe before Abe decides he’s going back to the start. After Aaron uses the Failsafe, he also ensures he puts in a duplicate Failsafe in place of the original Failsafe. Let’s call the original Failsafe as Abe’s Failsafe. This is replaced with Aaron’s Failsafe. While Abe’s Failsafe is running all the way from the beginning, before any of the time travelling, Aaron’s Failsafe is running from a few hours after Abe’s Failsafe. These few hours is given so that Abe won’t notice that the machines have been switched. The few hours’ gap is also enough for Aaron to drug his past-self and get to the park bench and pretend. Abe is not aware of this switch that Aaron has done. Abe is not aware that Aaron has used Abe’s Failsafe either. Abe thinks he is using Abe’s Failsafe but ends up using Aaron’s Failsafe instead. Abe ends up arriving a few hours after Aaron. By then, Aaron has already created Timeline 1.1 followed by a Timeline 1.2 – where he’s on the bench listening to the conversation over earphones.

In Timeline 1.2 there are 3 Aarons

1) The original Aaron from the timeline who is drugged and dumped in the attic. 2) Aaron-from-the-Failsafe who decides to go away, the narrator. 3) Aaron-from-the-extra-box who is on the park bench listening to conversations on the earphones.

In Timeline 1.2 there are 2 Abes

1) The original Abe from the timeline who is drugged and dumped in a bathroom. 2) The Abe-from-the-Failsafe who comes to the park and faints.

Abe-from-the-Failsafe comes back to consciousness and Aaron-from-the-extra-box explains how he discovered the Failsafe and did the switcheroo (basically everything that is described above). He also gives Abe-from-the-Failsafe the recording and goes down to the basketball court to talk to Will.

Will’s cousin is Rachel’s boyfriend. According to the original timeline, Aaron ends up inviting Will and his cousin to Robert’s party. So Aaron-from-the-extra-box invites Will as per the original events, the only change is that he misses shooting the basket which changes the conversation a little but doesn’t change the outcome.

Aaron-from-the-extra-box also convinces Abe-from-the-Failsafe why he needs to invite Rachel to the party. Abe-from-the-Failsafe finally agrees and calls Rachel to Robert’s birthday party.

Here is an unknown element. Aaron-from-the-extra-box may have gone back over and over to the start of the day to relive the day, to ensure that the events in the party go as planned. Which also means that more and more Aarons are hanging around in this timeline – no mention is made of what all the Aarons are up to. Finally, the scene in Primer shows an Aaron with Abe from the Failsafe at the party working to perfection. How many times has Aaron-from-the-extra-box gone back? Three? Four? Twenty? No idea. However, in the movie we see the party scene with a Final Aaron. We’ll call him Aaron-the-Final.

At the party, they open the car and sabotage the ex’s shotgun by removing the bullets. When the moment of conflict happens, Aaron-the-Final springs to the gunman (the ex) and saves the day.

The next scene is at the airport. Aaron-the-Final and Abe-from-the-Failsafe are talking about what happens next. Aaron-the-Final says they (Aaron-the-Final and Abe-from-the-Failsafe) don’t belong to the timeline they are in and they should just flick the passports of the original Abe and Aaron and just leave to another part of the world where no one knows them. Aaron-the-Final also suggests that they can make a copy of his wife and kid and leave with them.

Abe-from-the-Failsafe is annoyed with Aaron-the-Final and asks him to leave and never come back. Abe-from-the-Failsafe plans to sabotage the efforts of the original Abe and Aaron in creating and using the time machine. Abe-from-the-Failsafe hopes that the original Abe and Aaron will give up and move on to other projects. Aaron the Final leaves.

Primer Ending Explained: Timeline Unknown

The end of the Primer shows an Aaron in a place building a gigantic version of the machine. We can only assume that this is second Aaron from Timeline 1.2, the narrator, the Aaron-from-the-Failsafe. It is left open-ended, there is no closure given to the multiple Aarons and Abes that have been spawned. While some of them might cease to exist because of alterations in the timeline, others can cause further mess-ups to happen to create even more complex timelines. We don’t know, we never will.

Barry is a technologist who helps start-ups build successful products. His love for movies and production has led him to write his well-received film explanation and analysis articles to help everyone appreciate the films better. He’s regularly available for a chat conversation on his website and consults on storyboarding from time to time. Click to browse all his film articles

primer (2004)

At night and on weekends, four men in a suburban garage have built a cottage industry of error-checking devices. But, they know that there is something more. There is some idea, some mechanism, some accidental side effect that is standing between them and a pure leap of innovation. And so, through trial and error they are building the device that is missing most. The story of "Primer" is what happens when two of these men find the device and immediately realize that it is too valuable to market. The limit of their trust in each other is strained when they are faced with the question, "If you always want what you can't have, what do you want when you can have anything?"

Primer: Arguably the Most Realistic Movie About Time Travel

Primer, the low-budget debut film from Shane Carruth, may just be the most realistic time travel movie ever made; let's find out why.

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Third Upstream Color Trailer from Primer Director Shane Carruth

This strange drama centers on a couple trapped within the life cycle of a mysterious organism.

Second Upstream Color Trailer

Primer writer-director Shane Carruth returns with his second feature film, about a man and woman trapped within a mysterious organism.

Upstream Color Trailer from Primer Director Shane Carruth

We also have the poster for this sci-fi drama starring Andrew Sensenig and Brina Palencia, in theaters this March.

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Primer DVD Review

Director shane carruth talks primer.

...the indie director speaks out about time travel thriller

Primer – The Smartest Time Travel Film Ever Made

Written by Kevin Muldoon

| 7th May 2013

| Films, TV, Games & Music

I love films that make you think after you have watched them. Films that have you thinking about them for days after (I’m not talking about M. Night Shyamalan films which have an obvious twist at the end).

One of my favourite films over the last ten years is an independent film called Primer . The film focuses around two friends who are working on a device that will reduce the weight of items, however they accidentally create a machine that allows them to travel back in time. It is a fascinating film that demands a second watch…and a third. Anyone who says they understand the film after one viewing is a liar.

The film was written, directed, and produced, by Shane Carruth , one of the two main stars in the film. At the age of 30 he quit his job as an engineer to make Primer. I have nothing but respect for him for quitting his job and following his dreams. Amazingly, he completed the film on a budget of only $7,000 (nearly all of that money being spent on film stock). It is astounding to think that such a good film could be made on such a low budget (particularly with so many bad films out there costing over $100 million).

Shane Carruth’s second film is called Upstream Color is officially out today. When I read that his second film was being released, I decided to revisit Primer again (for what I believe is my fourth time).

Primer – What Happens If It Actually Works?

Primer is a film that makes sense once you have seen it at least twice and with every viewing you notice a few things that you had not noticed before. It is a relatively short film at only 77 minutes long, but it does not feel short when watching it. The film is not shown in the sequence that events occurred, which is one of the reasons why it is necessary to see the film another time.

After watching it once you will probably be confused about what actually happened. Watching it a second time is a completely different experience. It feels like watching a completely different film.

Where Primer excels over other time travel films is its realism (yes, realism in a fictional film about time travel). With 99% of time travel films, you are left contemplating the grandfather paradox . That is, someone from the future comes back to change the past, however if they come back to past to change something, their own future changes, making it impossible for them to come back to the past in the first place (and I’ve gone cross-eyed !). Even last years big time travel film Looper failed in this regard many times (i.e. the dismemberment of Seth raised many questions though I guess these issues can be countered by saying it creates a multiverse ). As did Terminator in 1984 (the technology from the Terminator from the future was the basis for creating the Terminator that was created in the future).

In Primer, no rules are broken and you after watching the film you start to think that the whole thing is actually plausible (all I need is an old PC to make a whirring sound!).

If you have never seen Primer before, I encourage you to seek it out. You can buy the film on Shane Carruther’s official website ERBP Film . You can also rent it for around $2.99 or buy it for around $9.99 on:

• Sundance Now

Whilst I won’t be explaining Primer in full in this post, I will be talking a little about the plot, therefore if you want to see the movie, please stop reading now. I mean that. This is a film you do not want to spoil!

Primer Explained

SPOILERS – DO NOT READ THIS SECTION IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM

My original idea was to give my view on what happened on Primer. There is little point of me doing that. Firstly, because there are long detailed explanations that already exist online. Secondly, because my own understanding of the plot was helped by the explanations and comments of other fans of the film.

Therefore, rather than do a long explanation of how I understand the series of events in the film, I thought it would be better to simply link to resources that will help you understand it (articles, images and videos).

Primer Explained – Timeline Image Diagrams

Let’s start off with a visual explanation with how time travel works in Primer. It is vital that you understand the basic rules of time travel within the film as your whole understanding of the film itself depends on it. The image that is available on Wikipedia explains it perfectly. It will also help you understand why later in the story there is more than one version of Abe and Aaron going into the future.

There are many timeline diagrams online that aim to explain Primer. A few are posted below (click on the image for the full size image). Unfortunately, most of these images are on dozens of websites online, therefore it was difficult for me to know where they originated. If you know where these images came from, please let me know in the comment area and I will link to the original creator :)

Diagram 3 :

These images will not help you understand Primer….but they do highlight how the Primer timelines compares to other films :)

Primer Timeline:

Movie Timelines Diagram:

Primer Explained – Audio Commentary

The audio commentary below from qutm.org was only released a few months ago. It is one of the best ways of understanding the Primer timeline. All you do is start the audio commentary at the same time the film starts. The commentary will then walk you through each part of the film.

Primer Explained – Videos

There are not too many video explanations online. The main one available is a three part video series which breaks down everything with diagrams. Each video is around 9 to 10 minutes long.

Part 2 and Part 3 can also be found on YouTube.

Primer Explained – Articles

I found the explanation diagrams to be a little difficult to digest. The walkthrough articles that many fans of the film have published online are much easier to follow in my opinion. Below is a collection of some of the best explanations of the timeline in Primer. They should answer most of the questions you have about the film.

• Primer explained @ qntm.org
• Primer explained @ friendsinyourhead.com
• Primer explained @ Reddit
• The Primer Universe
• Primer: The Perils and Paradoxes of Restricted Time Travel Narration
• Primer Movie – Scene by Scene Explanation
• Primer and the Handwriting of Time Travelers
• A discussion about Primer on jaced.com
• IMDB Discussion Boards for Primer

Shane Carruth Interviews

If you have read this far, you are obviously a huge fan of Primer. Therefore, I am sure you would love to hear more from the man himself, Shane Carruth. The interview below with Shane Carruth was published by The B-Movies Podcast last month. In the interview he talks about his new movie Upstream Color though he also talks a little about Primer.

More interviews with Shane Carruth:

• Shane Carruth—Primer—10/11/04
• Shane Carruth Answers All Our Questions About ‘Primer,’ ‘Upstream Color’ and ‘The Modern Ocean’
• An Interview With Shane Carruth
• A Primer Primer
• Making the Film – Interviews – Shane Carruth – 07/Mar/04
• Interview with Primer director Shane Carruth
• Buckle Your Brainpan: The Primer Director Is Back With a New Film
• IMDB Discussion Boards for Shane Carruth

The Future for Shane Carruth

It is great to see the return of Shane Carruth after a long absence. Upstream Color is just out and he is shooting another film called “The Modern Ocean” in a few months time. Sadly, the script he worked on for years has not came to fruition. The project, called “A Topiary”, took up a huge amount of his time but he was unable to secure the funds for it.

Apparently, he was learning how to design the 3D creatures himself for the film by visiting special effects companies.

I really hope that A Topiary gets made in the future, be it from investors or from funding through a website such as Kickstarter . It sounds epic. Here’s what he said about the film to Wired Magazine :

For a while, Carruth tried writing a romantic coming-of-age story set on the high seas. But soon he began mapping out something much bigger, an epic sci-fi story called A Topiary. It’s a tale told in two parts: The opening section follows a city worker who becomes obsessed with a recurring starburst pattern he sees hidden everywhere around him, even in traffic grids. He eventually joins with other believers, forming a kaffeeklatsch-cult that’s soon undone by greed and hubris. The second half follows a group of 10 preteen boys who discover a strange machine that produces small funnels, which in turn can be used to build increasingly agile robotlike creatures. As their creations grow in power and size, the kids’ friendships begin to splinter and they’re forced to confront another group of creature-builders. The movie ends with a massive last-minute reveal, set deep in the cosmos, suggesting that everything we’ve just seen was directed by forces outside the characters’ control. A Topiary consumed Carruth. He wrote much of it in the Dallas suburbs, living off the money from Primer. “There’s no way I could have done that if I had a wife or a family or health care,” he says now. “There’s a way to live that is incredibly thrifty.” While working on the script, Carruth used a 3-D computer program to design all the creatures himself. And since the movie would require hundreds of effects shots, he began visiting f/x houses to learn about their workflow and to see how he might create his own effects. He even built his own small-scale CGI system, renting cloud computers and writing code. “That’s where I lose my time,” he says. “I get obsessed with these little things. I think there’s some novel way to find a solution, and I go down the pathway too far.” After Carruth finished a first draft of the script, he gave it to director Steven Soderbergh, a fan who had reached out to Carruth after he saw Primer. Soderbergh asked his friend David Fincher to serve as co-executive producer. With their names and their blessing, Carruth made a mock-up trailer for investors, one that incorporated some of his own effects work plus images from many of the Spielberg movies he watched growing up. With a budget in the low $20 millions, Carruth began meeting with possible backers, a process that ended up consuming yet another year. “Nobody ever said no,” Carruth says. “It was always enthusiasm and amazement and ‘We can’t wait for this!’ Meanwhile, no money’s sitting in the account.” He kept lowering the budget, getting it down to about $14 million, but even that couldn’t secure an investor. “If this were the ’70s, people would be throwing money at him,” Soderbergh says. “It’s just a different time now.” Finally, Carruth realized that A Topiary was a problem he simply couldn’t solve. Worried he’d be forever stuck in a loop of endless meetings and fruitless go-aheads, he walked away. “I decided that if nobody was gonna say no, I was gonna have to say no,” he says. “It sort of just broke my heart.”

Shane Carruth’s experience suggests that even a successful film will guarantee you full control over your next project. Investors want involved in the project. I can understand this side of it. Can you imagine funding a film for $20 million and having the writer and director advise you that you have no say on what happens? You would fund another project. On the other side, I admire Carruth for not allowing other people tampering with his creation. Why should he give up final cut of his film or be told who he can or cannot cast. Even if he does not secure funds for A Topiary, I hope he continues to make films.

As much as I would love to see it, I do not believe there will ever be a sequel to Primer. There are no loose ends that need tied up. I cannot think of any plausible storyline that would happen after the events of the first film (can you?).

If you have read this far without watching Primer; shame on you! For everyone else, I hope you have found this article useful. Primer is one of the most intelligent films ever made. Most films that have a twist at the end of the film are easy to understand once you know what that twist is.

Primer is different. It really does take a few viewings to understand everything that happened. Once again, I will reiterate: Anyone who says that they understood everything about Primer after one viewing is a liar.

I’d love to hear from those of you who have seen Primer, so I encourage you to leave a comment and share with me your opinion of the film. Please leave a comment if there is any aspect of the film you do not understand and I will try and explain how I see those events.

Thanks for reading. Kevin

About Kevin Muldoon

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• The Inventory

The Making of Primer : 'Every Inch of Film We Shot Was in That Movie'

We sometimes describe films like 10 Cloverfield Lane as being low-budget—but a real low-budget classic is more like the time-travel movie Primer , which was made for a shockingly tiny $7,000. In a new interview, star David Sullivan talked about how insanely shoestring this production was.

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Sullivan talked to Forbes , promoting his new Netflix series Flaked , and he recalled the process of filming Primer :

Primer was made for $7 thousand. That was just five of us running around with the camera in Dallas, Texas. I’m really fortunate as an actor because that was my first role and we got this opportunity to tell this tale of time travel. With that kind of storytelling, there is no way that anyone is going to believe it unless they believe the characters – it’s an independent film with no special effects and almost no budget so the story has to be right. Primer won Sundance in 2004 and it was released later that year or 2005. Every inch of film we shot was in that movie with the exception of maybe 30 feet. We used expired stock, we used short ends, we used any kind of stock that Kodak would donate to us. We were a crew of five guys who trusted each other, you had to trust each other on that kind of budget, and we made this special little film.

Apparently there’s been some talk of a bigger-budget remake of Primer , with enough money to do the story’s time-travel themes justice. But Sullivan argues that this would be a mistake, because it would lose some of what made the original film special:

That maybe could have been made better if we had $10 thousand so we could have bought an extra four days of shooting but part of the beauty of that film is its reliance on talent and the hard work of people who want to tell this story. It’s in much the same way as with Flaked actually – very low budget, kind of indie filmmaking with a reliance on passion and talent. I haven’t looked it that way before but it’s true.

Also, he says that he wouldn’t be interested in a Primer TV show, unless there was an idea that both he and writer/director Shane Carruth loved.

The whole interview, including all his thoughts on working with Will Arnett, is worth reading. [ Forbes ]

Charlie Jane Anders is the author of All The Birds in the Sky , which is available now. Here’s what people have been saying about it. Follow her on Twitter , and email her .

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Screen Rant

Primer & 9 other impressive indie time travel movies.

Budget is no limitation when a sci-fi flick is narratively, thematically, and creatively sound. These time travel epics are proof of that.

Free from the conformities of big budgets, indie films are often hit or miss — they don't always befit everyone's taste. However, if executed well, these films prove to be creative powerhouses that not only win a cult following but also expand the existing boundaries of a genre.

RELATED:  10 Time Travel Movie Flops That Should've Been Hits

Take, for instance, the time travel sub-genre. Its common tropes and archetypes are well known to fans of science fiction. But every once in a while, some indie time travel movies come along, and with their nuance of style and narration, change all that viewers know about the genre. Because of their limited budgets and marketing, these films remain obscure but are impressive nonetheless.

Sound Of My Voice

Akin to other Brit Marling movies and TV shows,  Sound Of My Voice  cannot be confined to a fixed genre; not even sci-fi. While it does use time travel as one of its narrative devices, it is primarily driven by the psychological developments of its characters. It's this human element that makes its time travel underpinnings all the more compelling.

It centers on a couple who is determined to expose a seemingly fraudulent self-proclaimed time traveler named Maggie. But as the film progress, both of them — along with the viewers — start believing in Maggie's over-the-top convictions.

Starring Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan, Synchronic is among the few underappreciated gems created by indie dynamic-duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Since the film links its time travel to a designer drug, its premise may not sound too plausible on paper. But as seen in other Benson and Moorhead films, it's the execution that makes it a brainy and equally poignant meta-sci-fi flick.

With flashy match cuts, the film first introduces a drug that makes users go back in time without ever leaving their geographical space. Once the main concept is out of the way, it delves further into its rules of time travel that raise questions surrounding the perception of time in context with life and death.

Hello World

Although obscure compared to other sci-fi anime films like  Your Name and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time ,  Hello World  is no less intriguing and thematically rich. Its convoluted premise may overwhelm viewers at times, but all of it eventually pays off in its coda that leaves almost no stones unturned.

RELATED:  Your Name Or Weathering With You - Which is Makoto Shinkai's Best Movie?

Staring off like a typical coming-of-age anime, the film introduces an ordinary hermit protagonist named Naomi. But Naomi's ordinary life turns upside down when his future self shows up to help him prevent an impending tragedy. As Naomi races against time to change the inevitable, he learns that some things are beyond his control, no matter how hard he tries.

For the most part, Time Trap isn't bereft of the loose ends that can be seen in most sci-fi indie flicks, especially from an acting standpoint. However, beyond its choppier bits, the film does a good job at playing around with time travel, its implications, and many mysteries.

Its plot centers on a cave where, while searching for their archaeology professor, a group of students experience time like never before and struggle to find their way around its perilous secrets.

Timecrimes is riddled with dark comedy and thought-provoking themes, making good use of its limited budget and almost never allowing for a dull moment thanks to its ingenious and timely twists and turns. It begins on a rather mundane note where its protagonist, Hector, learns that a beautiful woman he spies on was assaulted.

RELATED:  15 Cool Time Loop Movies, Ranked (According To IMDb)

With what follows, a man with a bandaged face attacks him and he soon ends up in a scientific facility where his time travel misadventure begins. As random as its opening scenes may seem, the film slowly finds its feet in its second arc and keeps viewers on their toes throughout its runtime.

Predestination

Based on a short story by Robert A. Heinlein, Predestination stars Ethan Hawke as a temporal agent. To prevent a bomb attack in New York, he travels back to 1975 and races against time to complete his final mission. However, to his dismay, his journey through time proves to be a lot more twisted than he had anticipated

Like most top-rated time travel thrillers, the film first baffles viewers and its paradoxes test their patience. But that in itself adds to its mind-bending sci-fi intrigue, which ultimately pays off well towards its crescendo. Not to mention, Ethan Hawke's stellar performance makes it even more enthralling.

Looper  delivers a balance of intelligent sci-fi thrills and old-school action. Unlike most other time travel dramas, it is structured in a way that it isn't too confusing for a casual viewer, while at the same time, it has enough narrative depth for genre fans to rewatch, decode, and theorize its plot points.

RELATED:  10 Time-Bending Sci-Fi Movies To Watch If You Loved Looper

Set in a dystopian future,  the film features Joeseph Gordon-Levitt as a contractual assassin called Looper who kills targets sent by mobs from the future. But when he fails to close his own loop by not killing his future self (played by Bruce Willis) sent by the mob, he finds himself in the middle of a vengeance-fueled plot where nothing is as it seems.

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko , put simply, is an elaborate puzzle that allows viewers to get lost and then, bit by bit, put it all together to comprehend what's truly happening. In it, a much younger  Jake Gyllenhaal plays the titular character  whose life gets plagued by strange occurrences after a terrifying figure in a bunny costume pays him a visit.

While the movie's grim atmosphere and high-concept ideas are enough to impress most sci-fi fans, it also leaves a lot to the viewer's imagination, thereby staying with them long after its credits start rolling. Undoubtedly, this cult classic deserves to be on every indie sci-fi fan's watchlist.

The Endless

A cult stuck in a time loop, a game of tug of war with an unknown entity, and three moons in the night sky—these are only some of the many wacky images seen in The Endless . But more than zany imagery, it's the film's attention to detail that blows viewers away. From its scene transitions to its choice of background scores, everything in the film has a loopy undertone that alludes to its overarching themes. Such is the brilliance of Benson and Moorhead's The Endless.

The film focuses on brothers, Aaron and Justin (played by the directors themselves), who return to a UFO Death Cult after escaping it years ago. Soon, they learn that there's a lot more to the cult than meets the eye.

Made with a shoestring budget of $7000, Primer often tells more than it shows. Even so, despite its offbeat storytelling approach, the film is technically sound, intelligent, and gripping. Barring its first few minutes, almost everything in the movie is consequential, and only after a few sittings through its deliberately confusing premise, a viewer truly gets the hang of its paradoxes, alternate timelines, and philosophies.

Like most other time travel films, it has a human element as well where its two main characters invent a time machine and cautiously use it to get rich. But it's the same discovery that puts their relationships to a test. The cult-following of this one is well-deserved and it isn't surprising that it won the award for best drama at Sundance 2004.

NEXT:  5 Sci-Fi Movies That Do Time Travel Perfectly (& 5 That Messed It Up)

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Top 100 Time Travel Movies

Best Films about time travel.

• Movies or TV
• IMDb Rating
• In Theaters
• Release Year

1. Back to the Future (1985)

PG | 116 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.

Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael J. Fox , Christopher Lloyd , Lea Thompson , Crispin Glover

Votes: 1,304,632 | Gross: $210.61M

2. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger , Linda Hamilton , Edward Furlong , Robert Patrick

Votes: 1,172,334 | Gross: $204.84M

3. The Terminator (1984)

R | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

A human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger , Linda Hamilton , Michael Biehn , Paul Winfield

Votes: 922,814 | Gross: $38.40M

4. The Butterfly Effect (2004)

R | 113 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Evan Treborn suffers blackouts during significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life by reading his journal.

Directors: Eric Bress , J. Mackye Gruber | Stars: Ashton Kutcher , Amy Smart , Melora Walters , Elden Henson

Votes: 520,546 | Gross: $57.94M

5. Back to the Future Part II (1989)

PG | 108 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

After visiting 2015, Marty McFly must repeat his visit to 1955 to prevent disastrous changes to 1985...without interfering with his first trip.

Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael J. Fox , Christopher Lloyd , Lea Thompson , Tom Wilson

Votes: 571,735 | Gross: $118.50M

6. 12 Monkeys (1995)

R | 129 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.

Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Bruce Willis , Madeleine Stowe , Brad Pitt , Joseph Melito

Votes: 646,079 | Gross: $57.14M

7. Groundhog Day (1993)

PG | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

A narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.

Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Bill Murray , Andie MacDowell , Chris Elliott , Stephen Tobolowsky

Votes: 684,006 | Gross: $70.91M

8. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

PG-13 | 181 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to reverse Thanos' actions and restore balance to the universe.

Directors: Anthony Russo , Joe Russo | Stars: Robert Downey Jr. , Chris Evans , Mark Ruffalo , Chris Hemsworth

Votes: 1,262,854 | Gross: $858.37M

9. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants.

Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Patrick Stewart , Ian McKellen , Hugh Jackman , James McAvoy

Votes: 744,392 | Gross: $233.92M

10. Interstellar (2014)

PG-13 | 169 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

When Earth becomes uninhabitable in the future, a farmer and ex-NASA pilot, Joseph Cooper, is tasked to pilot a spacecraft, along with a team of researchers, to find a new planet for humans.

Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Matthew McConaughey , Anne Hathaway , Jessica Chastain , Mackenzie Foy

Votes: 2,093,923 | Gross: $188.02M

11. Predestination (I) (2014)

R | 97 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

As his last assignment, a temporal agent is tasked to travel back in time and prevent a bomb attack in New York in 1975. The hunt, however, turns out to be beyond the bounds of possibility.

Directors: Michael Spierig , Peter Spierig | Stars: Ethan Hawke , Sarah Snook , Noah Taylor , Madeleine West

Votes: 304,297 | Gross: $0.07M

12. Mirage (2018)

TV-MA | 128 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

Two storms separated by 25 years. A woman murdered. A daughter missed. Only 72 hours to discover the truth.

Director: Oriol Paulo | Stars: Adriana Ugarte , Chino Darín , Javier Gutiérrez , Álvaro Morte

Votes: 64,098

13. Palm Springs (2020)

R | 90 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery

Stuck in a time loop, two wedding guests develop a budding romance while living the same day over and over again.

Director: Max Barbakow | Stars: Andy Samberg , Cristin Milioti , J.K. Simmons , Peter Gallagher

Votes: 182,215

14. Midnight in Paris (2011)

PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Owen Wilson , Rachel McAdams , Kathy Bates , Kurt Fuller

Votes: 449,472 | Gross: $56.82M

15. Timecrimes (2007)

R | 92 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi

A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.

Director: Nacho Vigalondo | Stars: Karra Elejalde , Candela Fernández , Bárbara Goenaga , Nacho Vigalondo

Votes: 68,689 | Gross: $0.04M

16. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

PG-13 | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

A soldier fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies.

Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Tom Cruise , Emily Blunt , Bill Paxton , Brendan Gleeson

Votes: 735,562 | Gross: $100.21M

17. About Time (I) (2013)

R | 123 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.

Director: Richard Curtis | Stars: Domhnall Gleeson , Rachel McAdams , Bill Nighy , Lydia Wilson

Votes: 385,226 | Gross: $15.32M

18. The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

PG-13 | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

Henry DeTamble, a librarian, possesses a unique gene that lets him involuntarily travel through time. His wife, Claire Abshire, finds it difficult to cope with it.

Director: Robert Schwentke | Stars: Eric Bana , Rachel McAdams , Ron Livingston , Michelle Nolden

Votes: 157,791 | Gross: $63.41M

19. Back to the Future Part III (1990)

PG | 118 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

Stranded in 1955, Marty McFly learns about the death of Doc Brown in 1885 and must travel back in time to save him. With no fuel readily available for the DeLorean, the two must figure how to escape the Old West before Emmett is murdered.

Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael J. Fox , Christopher Lloyd , Mary Steenburgen , Tom Wilson

Votes: 480,134 | Gross: $87.73M

20. Time Sweep (2016)

Not Rated | 103 min | Drama

Franco loses his investigative journalist girlfriend Julia in a traffic accident and he'll do anything to get her back...

Director: Victor Postiglione | Stars: Luis Luque , Guillermo Pfening , María Nela Sinisterra

21. Star Trek (2009)

PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Simon Pegg , Leonard Nimoy

Votes: 619,910 | Gross: $257.73M

22. Flight of the Navigator (1986)

PG | 90 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family

In 1978, a boy travels eight years into the future and has an adventure with an intelligent, wisecracking alien ship.

Director: Randal Kleiser | Stars: Joey Cramer , Paul Reubens , Cliff De Young , Veronica Cartwright

Votes: 51,631 | Gross: $18.56M

23. Rewind (1999)

94 min | Comedy

A single guy has a video recorder that when re-winded it rewinds his life too. One night He invites to dinner some friends and records the party and keeps rewinding the camera every time something goes wrong with unpredictable results.

Director: Nicolás Muñoz Avia | Stars: Daniel Guzmán , María Adánez , Enrique Simón , Paz Gómez

24. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)

PG-13 | 127 min | Adventure, Drama, Family

When Jacob (Asa Butterfield) discovers clues to a mystery that stretches across time, he finds Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. But the danger deepens after he gets to know the residents and learns about their special powers.

Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Eva Green , Asa Butterfield , Samuel L. Jackson , Judi Dench

Votes: 188,016 | Gross: $87.24M

25. Men in Black³ (2012)

PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

Agent J travels in time to M.I.B.'s early days in 1969 to stop an alien from assassinating his friend Agent K and changing history.

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Will Smith , Tommy Lee Jones , Josh Brolin , Jemaine Clement

Votes: 386,579 | Gross: $179.02M

26. Source Code (2011)

PG-13 | 93 min | Action, Drama, Mystery

A soldier wakes up in someone else's body and discovers he's part of an experimental government program to find the bomber of a commuter train within 8 minutes.

Director: Duncan Jones | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal , Michelle Monaghan , Vera Farmiga , Jeffrey Wright

Votes: 549,153 | Gross: $54.71M

27. The Time Machine (1960)

G | 103 min | Adventure, Romance, Sci-Fi

A man's vision for a utopian society is disillusioned when travelling forward into time reveals a dark and dangerous society.

Director: George Pal | Stars: Rod Taylor , Alan Young , Yvette Mimieux , Sebastian Cabot

Votes: 44,780

28. Idiocracy (2006)

R | 84 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

Corporal Joe Bauers, a decisively average American, is selected as a guinea pig for a top-secret hibernation program. He is forgotten and left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic that he's easily the most intelligent person alive.

Director: Mike Judge | Stars: Luke Wilson , Maya Rudolph , Dax Shepard , Terry Crews

Votes: 181,658 | Gross: $0.44M

29. 12 Dates of Christmas (2011 TV Movie)

PG | 90 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy

A story that follows Kate, a young woman who after a horrible blind date on Christmas Eve, wakes up to find she is re-living that same day and date all over again.

Director: James Hayman | Stars: Laura Miyata , Vijay Mehta , Amy Smart , Audrey Dwyer

Votes: 8,313

30. 12:01 (1993 TV Movie)

PG-13 | 92 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi, Thriller

A man likes a woman at work. He sees her get murdered. He gets drunk and zapped at 12:01AM. Next morning she's back and everything is exactly like the day before. The time loops gives him chances to save her.

Director: Jack Sholder | Stars: Helen Slater , Jonathan Silverman , Nicolas Surovy , Robin Bartlett

Votes: 5,509

31. Time Lapse (2014)

Not Rated | 104 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Three friends discover a mysterious machine that takes pictures twenty-four hours into the future, and conspire to use it for personal gain, until disturbing and dangerous images begin to develop.

Director: Bradley King | Stars: Danielle Panabaker , Matt O'Leary , George Finn , John Rhys-Davies

Votes: 49,078

32. Looper (2012)

R | 119 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent into the past, where a hired gun awaits - someone like Joe - who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by sending back Joe's future self for assassination.

Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Bruce Willis , Emily Blunt , Paul Dano

Votes: 602,432 | Gross: $66.49M

33. The Lake House (2006)

PG | 99 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

A lonely doctor who once occupied an unusual lakeside house begins to exchange love letters with its former resident, a frustrated architect. They must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it's too late.

Director: Alejandro Agresti | Stars: Keanu Reeves , Sandra Bullock , Christopher Plummer , Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Votes: 157,521 | Gross: $52.33M

34. Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009)

PG-13 | 83 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi

While drinking at their local pub, three social outcasts attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum.

Director: Gareth Carrivick | Stars: Chris O'Dowd , Marc Wootton , Dean Lennox Kelly , Anna Faris

Votes: 36,534

35. Frequency (2000)

PG-13 | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

An accidental cross-time radio link connects father and son across 30 years. The son tries to save his father's life, but then must fix the consequences.

Director: Gregory Hoblit | Stars: Dennis Quaid , Jim Caviezel , Shawn Doyle , Elizabeth Mitchell

Votes: 115,623 | Gross: $45.01M

36. Kate & Leopold (2001)

PG-13 | 118 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

An English Duke from 1876 is inadvertently dragged to modern day New York where he falls for a plucky advertising executive.

Director: James Mangold | Stars: Meg Ryan , Hugh Jackman , Liev Schreiber , Breckin Meyer

Votes: 89,010 | Gross: $47.12M

37. Project Almanac (2015)

PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

A group of teens discovers secret plans for a time machine, and construct one. However, things start to get out of control.

Director: Dean Israelite | Stars: Amy Landecker , Sofia Black-D'Elia , Virginia Gardner , Jonny Weston

Votes: 84,171 | Gross: $22.35M

38. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

R | 86 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified advertisement seeking a companion for time travel.

Director: Colin Trevorrow | Stars: Aubrey Plaza , Mark Duplass , Jake Johnson , Karan Soni

Votes: 130,802 | Gross: $4.01M

39. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

R | 109 min | Action, Sci-Fi

A machine from a post-apocalyptic future travels back in time to protect a man and a woman from an advanced robotic assassin to ensure they both survive a nuclear attack.

Director: Jonathan Mostow | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger , Nick Stahl , Kristanna Loken , Claire Danes

Votes: 418,191 | Gross: $150.37M

40. Terminator Salvation (2009)

PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

In 2018, a mysterious new weapon in the war against the machines, half-human and half-machine, comes to John Connor on the eve of a resistance attack on Skynet. But whose side is he on, and can he be trusted?

Director: McG | Stars: Christian Bale , Sam Worthington , Anton Yelchin , Moon Bloodgood

Votes: 376,998 | Gross: $125.32M

41. Primer (2004)

PG-13 | 77 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.

Director: Shane Carruth | Stars: Shane Carruth , David Sullivan , Casey Gooden , Anand Upadhyaya

Votes: 114,008 | Gross: $0.42M

42. Synchronicity (IV) (2015)

R | 101 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

A physicist who invents a time machine must travel back to the past to uncover the truth about his creation and the woman who is trying to steal it.

Director: Jacob Gentry | Stars: Chad McKnight , Brianne Davis , AJ Bowen , Scott Poythress

Votes: 11,321 | Gross: $0.00M

43. Donnie Darko (2001)

R | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

Director: Richard Kelly | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal , Jena Malone , Mary McDonnell , Holmes Osborne

Votes: 849,042 | Gross: $1.48M

44. Time Trap (2017)

Not Rated | 87 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery

A professor enters a cave and goes missing. Some of his students come looking for him and get trapped in the cave as well.

Directors: Mark Dennis , Ben Foster | Stars: Reiley McClendon , Cassidy Gifford , Brianne Howey , Olivia Draguicevich

Votes: 43,369

45. Time Lapse (2014)

46. before i fall (2017).

PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

February 12 is just another day in Sam's charmed life, until it turns out to be her last. Stuck reliving her last day over and over, Sam untangles the mystery around her death and discovers everything she's losing.

Director: Ry Russo-Young | Stars: Zoey Deutch , Halston Sage , Cynthy Wu , Medalion Rahimi

Votes: 56,759 | Gross: $12.24M

47. Time Trap (2017)

48. arq (2016).

TV-MA | 88 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Trapped in a lab and stuck in a time loop, a disoriented couple fends off masked raiders while harboring a new energy source that could save humanity.

Director: Tony Elliott | Stars: Robbie Amell , Rachael Taylor , Shaun Benson , Gray Powell

Votes: 41,834

49. Time Bandits (1981)

PG | 110 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

A young boy accidentally joins a band of time travelling dwarves, as they jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal.

Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Sean Connery , Shelley Duvall , John Cleese , Katherine Helmond

Votes: 68,230 | Gross: $42.37M

50. Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)

PG | 92 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy

Sherman, a young boy, misuses a time machine made by his scientist father Mr. Peabody and causes the world history to go haywire. It is now up to Mr. Peabody to rescue his son and the world.

Director: Rob Minkoff | Stars: Ty Burrell , Max Charles , Stephen Colbert , Leslie Mann

Votes: 77,664 | Gross: $111.51M

51. Shrek Forever After (2010)

PG | 93 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy

Rumpelstiltskin tricks a mid-life crisis burdened Shrek into allowing himself to be erased from existence and cast in a dark alternate timeline where Rumpelstiltskin rules supreme.

Director: Mike Mitchell | Stars: Mike Myers , Cameron Diaz , Eddie Murphy , Antonio Banderas

Votes: 224,217 | Gross: $238.37M

52. Happy Death Day (2017)

PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy, Horror, Mystery

A college student must relive the day of her murder over and over again, in a loop that will end only when she discovers her killer's identity.

Director: Christopher Landon | Stars: Jessica Rothe , Israel Broussard , Ruby Modine , Charles Aitken

Votes: 162,397 | Gross: $55.68M

53. Timecop (1994)

R | 99 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi

Max Walker, an officer for a security agency that regulates time travel, must fend for his life against a shady politician who's intent on changing the past to control the future.

Director: Peter Hyams | Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme , Mia Sara , Ron Silver , Bruce McGill

Votes: 64,098 | Gross: $44.85M

54. I'll Follow You Down (2013)

Not Rated | 89 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

After the disappearance of a young scientist on a business trip, his son and wife struggle to cope, only to make a bizarre discovery years later - one that may bring him home.

Director: Richie Mehta | Stars: John Paul Ruttan , Rufus Sewell , Gillian Anderson , Kiara Glasco

Votes: 8,066

55. Click (2006)

A workaholic architect finds a universal remote that allows him to fast-forward and rewind to different parts of his life. Complications arise when the remote starts to overrule his choices.

Director: Frank Coraci | Stars: Adam Sandler , Kate Beckinsale , Christopher Walken , David Hasselhoff

Votes: 356,243 | Gross: $137.36M

56. When We First Met (2018)

TV-14 | 97 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Noah meets Avery at a Halloween party and falls in love but gets friend-zoned. 3 years later, she's engaged to someone else. Noah returns in a time machine to fix things.

Director: Ari Sandel | Stars: Adam Devine , Alexandra Daddario , Shelley Hennig , Andrew Bachelor

Votes: 53,859

57. The Time Machine (2002)

PG-13 | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds humankind divided into two warring races.

Director: Simon Wells | Stars: Guy Pearce , Yancey Arias , Mark Addy , Phyllida Law

Votes: 130,288 | Gross: $56.68M

58. The Jacket (2005)

R | 103 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

A Gulf war veteran is wrongly sent to a mental institution for insane criminals, where he becomes the object of a doctor's experiments, and his life is completely affected by them.

Director: John Maybury | Stars: Adrien Brody , Keira Knightley , Daniel Craig , Kris Kristofferson

Votes: 119,202 | Gross: $6.30M

59. Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)

PG | 113 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy

Alice is appointed to save her beloved Mad Hatter from deadly grief by travelling back to the past, but this means fatally harming Time himself, the noble clockwork man with the device needed to save the Hatter's family from the Red Queen.

Director: James Bobin | Stars: Mia Wasikowska , Johnny Depp , Helena Bonham Carter , Anne Hathaway

Votes: 121,997 | Gross: $77.04M

60. Triangle (2009)

R | 99 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Five friends set sail and their yacht is overturned by a strange and sudden storm. A mysterious ship arrives to rescue them, and what happens next cannot be explained.

Director: Christopher Smith | Stars: Melissa George , Joshua McIvor , Jack Taylor , Michael Dorman

Votes: 129,540

61. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

PG-13 | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

Dr. Evil is back and has invented a new time machine that allows him to go back to the 1960s and steal Austin Powers' mojo, inadvertently leaving him "shagless".

Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Mike Myers , Heather Graham , Michael York , Robert Wagner

Votes: 248,533 | Gross: $206.04M

62. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

R | 99 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi

A malfunctioning time machine at a ski resort takes a man back to 1986 with his two friends and nephew, where they must relive a fateful night and not change anything to make sure the nephew is born.

Director: Steve Pink | Stars: John Cusack , Rob Corddry , Craig Robinson , Clark Duke

Votes: 186,250 | Gross: $50.29M

63. Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

Peggy Sue faints at a high school reunion. When she wakes up, she finds herself in her own past, just before she finished school.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Kathleen Turner , Nicolas Cage , Barry Miller , Catherine Hicks

Votes: 40,749 | Gross: $41.38M

64. Grand Tour: Disaster in Time (1991)

PG-13 | 99 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi

Before they can complete renovations on their new inn, Widower (Ben Wilson) and daughter (Hillary) are visited by a woman seeking immediate lodging for her strange group of travellers. Why ... See full summary  »

Director: David Twohy | Stars: Jeff Daniels , Ariana Richards , Emilia Crow , Jim Haynie

Votes: 3,092

65. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

PG | 90 min | Adventure, Comedy, Music

Two rock-'n-rolling teens, on the verge of failing their class, set out on a quest to make the ultimate school history report after being presented with a time machine.

Director: Stephen Herek | Stars: Keanu Reeves , Alex Winter , George Carlin , Terry Camilleri

Votes: 141,486 | Gross: $40.49M

66. Time Freak (2018)

PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A genius teenage boy is in love with a girl who breaks up with him after a year. He invents a time machine and tries to fix the breakup repeatedly. He finally goes a year back with his friend to fix the bad days.

Director: Andrew Bowler | Stars: Asa Butterfield , Sophie Turner , Skyler Gisondo , Will Peltz

Votes: 9,811 | Gross: $0.01M

67. Naked (I) (2017)

TV-14 | 96 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Nervous about finally getting married, a guy is forced to relive the same nerve-wracking hours over and over again until he gets things right on his wedding day.

Director: Michael Tiddes | Stars: Marlon Wayans , Regina Hall , Dennis Haysbert , J.T. Jackson

Votes: 21,576

68. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

PG | 93 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

A tyrant from the future creates evil android doubles of Bill and Ted and sends them back to eliminate the originals.

Director: Peter Hewitt | Stars: Keanu Reeves , Alex Winter , William Sadler , Joss Ackland

Votes: 80,971 | Gross: $38.04M

69. The Man from the Future (2011)

106 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Zero is a brilliant scientist. However, 20 years ago, he was publicly humiliated when he lost Helena, the love of his life. One day, an accidental experience with one of his inventions ... See full summary  »

Director: Cláudio Torres | Stars: Wagner Moura , Alinne Moraes , Maria Luísa Mendonça , Fernando Ceylão

Votes: 6,931

70. Somewhere in Time (1980)

PG | 103 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

A Chicago playwright uses self-hypnosis to travel back in time and meet the actress whose vintage portrait hangs in a grand hotel.

Director: Jeannot Szwarc | Stars: Christopher Reeve , Jane Seymour , Christopher Plummer , Teresa Wright

Votes: 32,464 | Gross: $9.71M

71. Deja Vu (2006)

PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi

After a ferry is bombed in New Orleans, an A.T.F. agent joins a unique investigation using experimental surveillance technology to find the bomber, but soon finds himself becoming obsessed with one of the victims.

Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Denzel Washington , Paula Patton , Jim Caviezel , Val Kilmer

Votes: 327,248 | Gross: $64.04M

72. Time Jumpers (2018)

Not Rated | 79 min | Sci-Fi

When a young man finds a time machine device, his life spins out of control.

Directors: Svend Ploug Johansen , Dominic Smith , April Wright | Stars: Samuel D. Evans , Taylor Gerard Hart , Kelli Vonshay Henderson , Mathilde Norholt

73. Time Changer (2002)

PG | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

A Bible professor from 1890 comes forward in time to the present via a time machine and cannot believe the things that he sees!

Director: Rich Christiano | Stars: D. David Morin , Gavin MacLeod , Hal Linden , Jennifer O'Neill

Votes: 2,915 | Gross: $1.28M

74. Altered Hours (2016)

TV-MA | 101 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller

A young insomniac's black-market sleep aid sends his mind time-travelling one day into the future, where he's the suspect in the disappearance of a girl he hasn't met -- yet.

Director: Bruce Wemple | Stars: Ryan Munzert , Briana Pozner , Rick Montgomery Jr. , Thea McCartan

75. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (2015)

R | 93 min | Comedy, Mystery, Sci-Fi

When Lou's shot in the groin, Nick and Jacob drag him in the Hot Tub Time Machine to go back in time and save Lou. The three end up 10 years in the future, where they need to go to find the shooter.

Director: Steve Pink | Stars: Rob Corddry , Craig Robinson , Clark Duke , Adam Scott

Votes: 41,598 | Gross: $12.28M

76. The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations (2009)

R | 90 min | Crime, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Sam Reide uses his power to time travel to solve the mystery of his girlfriend's death.

Director: Seth Grossman | Stars: Chris Carmack , Rachel Miner , Melissa Jones , Kevin Yon

Votes: 20,684

77. Freejack (1992)

R | 110 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi

Bounty hunters from the future transport a doomed race car driver to New York City in 2009, where his mind will be replaced with that of a dead billionaire.

Director: Geoff Murphy | Stars: Emilio Estevez , Mick Jagger , Rene Russo , Anthony Hopkins

Votes: 17,437 | Gross: $17.13M

78. Another Time (2018)

TV-MA | 89 min | Adventure, Comedy, Romance

Just because a journey leads you somewhere you didn't expect, doesn't mean you ended up in the wrong place.

Director: Thomas Hennessy | Stars: Justin Hartley , Chrishell Stause , James Kyson , Alan Pietruszewski

Votes: 1,123

79. The Butterfly Effect 2 (2006)

R | 92 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Nick Larson discovers a supernatural way to alter his life and travel back in time to key moments in his life by looking at photographs.

Director: John R. Leonetti | Stars: Eric Lively , Erica Durance , Dustin Milligan , Gina Holden

Votes: 37,306

80. See You Yesterday (2019)

TV-MA | 84 min | Action, Adventure, Crime

Two Brooklyn teenage prodigies, C.J. Walker and Sebastian Thomas, build makeshift time machines to save C.J.'s brother, Calvin, from being wrongfully killed by a police officer.

Director: Stefon Bristol | Stars: Eden Duncan-Smith , Dante Crichlow , Astro , Marsha Stephanie Blake

Votes: 11,603

81. Curvature (2017)

90 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

An engineer travels back in time to stop herself from committing a murder.

Director: Diego Hallivis | Stars: Lyndsy Fonseca , Glenn Morshower , Alex Lanipekun , Noah Bean

Votes: 3,077

82. Paradox (III) (2016)

TV-MA | 90 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

A time machine's tested first time by a man in the team traveling 1 hour into the future. He returns to warn them against killings in the next hour. Is it possible to change things in the "past"? Twist after twist follow.

Director: Michael Hurst | Stars: Zoë Bell , Malik Yoba , Adam Huss , Bjørn Alexander

Votes: 3,332

83. A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

PG | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, Family

After the disappearance of her scientist father, three peculiar beings send Meg, her brother, and her friend to space in order to find him.

Director: Ava DuVernay | Stars: Storm Reid , Oprah Winfrey , Reese Witherspoon , Mindy Kaling

Votes: 47,752 | Gross: $100.48M

84. Counter Clockwise (I) (2016)

Unrated | 91 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller

A scientist invents a time machine that transports him six months into the future.

Director: George Moïse | Stars: Michael Kopelow , Frank Simms , Kerry Knuppe , Alice Rietveld

85. S. Darko (2009)

R | 103 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Donnie Darko's little sister Samantha and her best friend Corey are on a cross-country road trip, but soon find themselves entangled in a dangerous glitch in the time-space continuum.

Director: Chris Fisher | Stars: Daveigh Chase , Briana Evigan , James Lafferty , Ed Westwick

Votes: 14,463

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