Movies with a time travel theme always tend to rile people up. A grand example of how not to make a time travel movie would be Timecop — a film that presents its viewers with multiple timelines that seem to crisscross and has its hero darting back in time to save the day (which he does, subsequently altering history in the process). Even the Back To The Future films (which I dearly love) offer up the possibility that the past and future can be changed. Balderdash, I say; what’s happened has already happened and what is to be already is… or something like that.
Over the years, there have only been a handful of movies and television shows that have presented the theory known as the ontological paradox (and sometimes the predestination paradox) — the belief that a person venturing back in time to change history would only in turn fulfill their destiny in creating said history.
Let’s say Bob sees a stranger steal a pair of boxers from his underwear drawer, chases him, but is unable to catch him. Undaunted, Bob hops into his time machine to go back and stop the man but, as luck would have it, the journey backwards literally scares the piss out of him, and so he goes to his underwear drawer for a new pair of boxers, only to be surprised by his “past” self walking in on him, causing him to run away before, well, something weird happens. Bob turns out to be both people — and his “future” self is what you might call a “loop in time” for which there is really no accounting… or something like that.
Personally, I tend to favor movies that explore the ontological paradox — and I really favor Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes, a Spanish-made entry in the science fiction field that manages to give its actors a chance to play entirely different versions of the same people at different points in time (if that makes any sense to you at all). Regrettably, I am unwilling to disclose much of the film’s premise as it will only be spoiling it for you, as this is definitely one movie you should see! But, in an effort to whet your appetites, I’ll give you this much: our middle-aged hero, Héctor (Karra Elejalde), sits in his backyard looking through a pair of binoculars. He sees an attractive young woman taking her clothes off and, like any straight man would probably do, goes to investigate (after all, this woman may be in trouble).








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