prison term travel is an incredibly risky and difficult construct to pull off . Do it incorrect , and the consultation rip into the write up and its unconnected paradoxes , which of course prevents them from fully enjoying and becoming endue in the story . Even when meter travel is done right , itstillopens up a net ton of possible questions - most of which are only hired man - waved aside .

When it comes to fourth dimension traveling , far more movies have fail than come after . But there are still plenty of picture that did it in a respectable and perceivable style - a few peaceful manus - waves apart , of course .

Right: 12 Monkeys (1995)

12 Monkeysis probably the skillful and smart time travel movie of all fourth dimension , because it earn   how problematic   time travel really is . The present humans of12 Monkeyshas been decimated by a worldwide plague that   has pass over out most of humanity . A prisoner named James Cole is sent back in time to teach about the computer virus and hopefully stop it . Of of course , he ca n’t stop the virus from being unleash because heneverstopped the virus from being unleashed . It ’s a perfect stable clock time loop topology . It serves as a giant middle finger to the very concept of time travel and attempting to shift the past from fall out .

Wrong: Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)

Much has been written about thePrisoner of Azkaban ’s time locomotion mechanism -probably because they do n’t make a whole lot of horse sense . In theory , this movie also portrays a perfect stable time loop-the-loop , as Harry realizes that it was his own Patronus that   save himself and Sirius from the dementors . But most of the issues stem from the use of the meter Nat Turner itself - specifically , why it was give to Hermione in the first place . To permit her attend more social class ? It also opens up tons of questions regarding the wider use of time turner in the magic world .

Right: Looper (2012)

As the statute title suggests , Looperhas to get by completely with unchanging time loops . write by Rian Johnson , Looper ’s plot is actually quite clever and gloriously original . In the future tense , crime syndicates have problems incline of their victims ' bodies . To alleviate the trouble , they institutionalize them back in time to be kill by hired guns called " loopers . " The future loopers are then sent back in metre to be killed by their untested selves , effectively " closing the loop " . Of course , it incur more complicated from there , butLooperalways remains a thrilling and intelligent story .

Wrong: The Butterfly Effect (2004)

The conception behindThe Butterfly Effectis quite sound and could prove continuously captivate in the hand of a good writer . Essentially , a valet move back in metre using his diary to neuter events from his past times in the Bob Hope of changing the future tense .

However , the movie is absolutely riddled with plot yap , the most egregious of which happens in the infamous prison sequence . A captive essentially watches Evan falsify the present in front of his very optic ,   even though that wholly betray the internal logic that the story has fix up .

Right: Back To The Future (1985)

Wrong: Kate & Leopold (2001)

In this one , Liev Schreiber ’s Stuart pulls his great - great - grandfather , Leopold , from 1876 through a clip portal and into the present day . While in 2001 , Leopold falls in love with Stuart ’s x - lady friend , Kate . The ending sees Kate travelingbackto 1876 with Leopold , get married him , and becoming Stuart ’s peachy - great - grandmother .   Issues of sleeping with your great - keen - grandson aside , this open up up a nasty causality loop and makes absolutely no gumption .

Right: The Terminator (1984) & Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

The first twoTerminatorfilms are prime object lesson of prison term travelling done right . By the destruction ofTerminator 2 , everyone is thoroughly satisfied and in complete agreement as to how the clip travel worked . It ’s extremely rare for an " alter the yesteryear and change the time to come " time travelling chronicle to work , butTerminator 2somehow managed to pull it off .

The ending is not only exceedingly aroused , but altogether gratify on a narrative and lucid story . There ’s a cause it ’s consider one of the great .

Wrong: Terminator Genisys (2015)

And then they justhadto makeTerminator Genisys . Genisyscompletely upend what we all understoodabout the previousTerminatorfilms and make the most needlessly knotty time locomotion imaginable . It dead tarnishes the internal logic of theTerminatoruniverse and muddles the series ' mythology , engender a everlasting and total mess of the once great ( and finished ) story . It nearly destroyed theTerminatorfranchise forever . Dark Fatefinished the job .

Right: Groundhog Day (1993)

Groundhog Dayisn’t really a timetravelmovie - more of a timeloopmovie . For some reason , weatherman Phil Connors getscaught in a nasty clip loopthat has him re - living the exact same daytime over and over and over again . For likely C , if not thousands , of yr . What makes the internal logical system of this film work so well is that thereisn’tany . The movie is n’t concerned with how clip travel works . In fact , it never explains why it happen in the first place . It simply use the storytelling twist to tell a rich and   affecting story about personal growth .

Wrong: X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)

twenty-four hour period of Future Pastis surely one of the betterX - Menmovies out there , but its utilization of time travelling ( and the mechanics behind it ) is still a minuscule perplexing . Essentially , Kitty Pride sendsWolverine ’s consciousness back to 1973to blockade an blackwash and keep an apocalyptic hereafter . For one matter , how is Kitty able to send people’sconsciousnessback in clock time ? That seems impossible , even for a mutant with superpower . second , how does sending a mere consciousness back in time keep anything from occurring ? And even if it did change the past tense and alter the nowadays , that opens up the ol' grandfather paradox , as Wolverine would have never gone back in time to change the past .

NEXT:15 Most WTF Time Travel Movies Ever

A collage image of Luke Skywalker in A New Hope

In a dusty landscape Finn stares out into the distance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Sidious, Tyranus, Maul, and Vader.

pjimage (79)

James and Jeffrey in the mental institution in 12 Monkeys (1995)

Harry Potter and Hermione Granger about to use the Time Turner in Prisoner of Azkaban

Joseph Gordon Levitt as Joe

Evan writes in his journal

A screenshot of Marty McFly and Doc Brown from Back to the Future

Hugh Jackman as Leopold in Kate & Leopold

Terminator 2 Judgment Day Ending

Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys

Groundhog Day

X-Men Days of Future Past — Magneto (6)

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