The 25 Best Time-Traveling Movies To Stream on Netflix Right Now
Time travel is a fascinating idea. The power to visit the past or see the future has always captured our imagination. Movies about time travel let us explore this concept from the comfort of our homes. They can be funny, exciting, or make us think deeply about our choices and their consequences. These stories play with the rules of time, creating mind-bending plots and unforgettable adventures.
Netflix offers a variety of movies that explore time travel in different ways. Some are big-budget blockbusters with stunning special effects, while others are smaller films with clever ideas. Whether you enjoy action, comedy, or romance, there is a time travel movie for you. This list brings together some of the best time-bending stories you can find, each offering a unique journey through the fourth dimension.
The Adam Project (2022)
In this action-packed adventure, a time-traveling pilot named Adam Reed accidentally crash-lands in the year 2022. He must team up with his own 12-year-old self to save the future. The older Adam is bitter and grieving the loss of his wife, while his younger version is struggling with the recent death of their father. Together, they have to confront their past and fix the timeline.
The movie combines humor, heartfelt emotion, and thrilling action sequences. It explores themes of family and destiny as the two Adams learn to work together. Their mission is to find their father, a brilliant scientist who invented time travel, and stop a powerful corporation from controlling it. The relationship between the older and younger Adam provides many of the film’s best moments.
See You Yesterday (2019)
Two high school science prodigies, C.J. and Sebastian, invent a way to travel back in time. They initially use their invention for fun and to fix small mistakes. However, their project takes on a new urgency when C.J.’s older brother is tragically killed in a police encounter. She becomes determined to use their time machine to save his life.
The film is a mix of science fiction and social commentary. C.J. and Sebastian’s attempts to change the past lead to unexpected and dangerous consequences. Each trip back in time creates new problems, and they find that altering events is not as simple as they thought. The movie is a powerful story about grief, friendship, and the difficult choices people face.
In the Shadow of the Moon (2019)
This movie is a gritty science fiction thriller that spans several decades. In 1988, a Philadelphia police officer named Thomas Lockhart begins tracking a mysterious serial killer who appears every nine years. The killer’s crimes defy all logic, and Lockhart becomes obsessed with solving the case, which puts a strain on his career and his family.
As Lockhart continues his investigation over the years, he uncovers a shocking truth that involves time travel. The story unfolds in a non-linear way, revealing pieces of the puzzle with each nine-year jump. It’s a dark and complex film that blends crime drama with mind-bending science fiction concepts, leading to a surprising and thought-provoking conclusion.
Synchronic (2019)
Steve and Dennis are two paramedics in New Orleans whose lives are turned upside down by a new designer drug. The drug, called Synchronic, has bizarre and deadly effects on its users. They soon discover that the pill allows people to travel through time for a few minutes, but the journey is unpredictable and often fatal.
When Dennis’s teenage daughter disappears after taking the drug, Steve decides to use Synchronic himself to find her. The film explores themes of loss, time, and the nature of reality. Steve’s trips into the past are visually striking and full of danger as he encounters different historical eras in the same location. It’s a unique and suspenseful take on the time travel genre.
Mirage (2018)
During a powerful storm, a woman named Vera Roy discovers she can communicate with a boy who lived in her house 25 years earlier, right before he was killed. She manages to save his life by warning him, but this one act completely changes her own reality. When the storm passes, she wakes up in a new life where her daughter has never been born and her husband doesn’t know her.
Vera must now race against time to figure out what happened and get her old life back. The film is a gripping thriller from Spain that keeps you guessing until the very end. It’s a story about the butterfly effect, showing how a small change in the past can have massive consequences for the present. Vera’s desperate search for her daughter is both emotional and intense.
ARQ (2016)
In a future where corporations have drained the world’s resources, an engineer named Renton is trapped in a time loop. He wakes up every morning to a group of masked intruders breaking into his home to steal a machine he invented called the ARQ. The machine was designed to create unlimited energy, but it has instead created a loop in time.
Renton and his former lover, Hannah, must relive the same day over and over again. They have to figure out who the intruders are and why they want the machine. With each reset, they learn more about their situation and the hidden motives of those around them. The film is a tense and claustrophobic thriller that makes the most of its time loop concept.
When We First Met (2018)
Noah thinks he has the perfect night with Avery, the girl of his dreams, but he ends up in the friend zone. Three years later, he is still wondering what he did wrong. He discovers that a magical photo booth can take him back to the day they first met, giving him a chance to change his fate.
Noah travels back in time repeatedly, trying different approaches to win Avery’s heart. Each attempt leads to new and unexpected outcomes, and he soon realizes that changing the past isn’t straightforward. The movie is a charming romantic comedy that uses its time travel premise to explore ideas of destiny, relationships, and what it means to be the right person for someone.
The Call (2020)
This South Korean thriller connects two women living in the same house but 20 years apart. They are able to communicate through a cordless phone. One woman, living in the past, offers to make changes that will improve the other’s life. At first, the changes are positive, but the situation quickly turns dangerous.
The woman in the past reveals her true, disturbed nature, and the connection becomes a terrifying trap. The film is a dark and twisted look at how altering the past can have horrific consequences. It’s a suspenseful and violent ride where the future is constantly being rewritten for the worse.
Looper (2012)
In the year 2044, the mob sends its targets back in time 30 years, where a hitman known as a “looper” is waiting to kill them. Joe is one of these loopers, living a good life with the silver he earns. The system is perfect until the mob decides to “close the loop” by sending the looper’s older self back for assassination.
Joe’s life is thrown into chaos when his older self appears as his next target and manages to escape. Now, Joe must hunt down his future self to avoid severe consequences from his employers. The film is a smart, action-filled story that questions fate and what a person would do to protect their future.
About Time (2013)
At age 21, Tim Lake is told a family secret by his father: the men in their family can travel through time. Tim can’t change history, but he can change what happens in his own life. He decides to use his power to get a girlfriend. He meets a woman named Mary, and they fall in love.
Tim uses his ability to perfect moments with Mary and to help his friends and family. However, he learns that time travel has its limits and that some problems can’t be fixed by going back. The film is a heartwarming and charming story about love, loss, and appreciating the ordinary moments of life.
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
An alien race has invaded Earth, and Major William Cage, a public relations officer with no combat experience, is thrown into the fight. He is killed within minutes but wakes up at the beginning of the same day. He is caught in a time loop, forced to relive the same brutal battle over and over.
With each loop, Cage becomes a more skilled soldier. He teams up with a legendary warrior, Rita Vrataski, who understands his situation. Together, they use the time loop to learn the enemy’s weaknesses and find a way to win the war. The film is an exciting and clever sci-fi action movie.
Source Code (2011)
U.S. Army Captain Colter Stevens wakes up on a commuter train, but he is in someone else’s body. Eight minutes later, the train explodes. He then finds himself in a pod, where an officer explains he is part of a mission called “Source Code.” This program allows him to enter the last eight minutes of another person’s life.
His mission is to find the bomber before he strikes again on a much larger scale. Stevens is sent back into the eight-minute loop repeatedly. He starts to form a connection with a woman on the train and becomes determined to do more than just find the bomb. It’s a fast-paced thriller that explores free will and sacrifice.
12 Monkeys (1995)
In a future devastated by a deadly virus, humanity lives underground. A convict named James Cole is sent back in time to 1996 to find the source of the plague. His goal is to gather information so that scientists in the future can create a cure. However, he is mistakenly sent to 1990 and locked in a mental institution.
In the institution, he meets a psychiatrist and a mentally unstable patient who may be connected to the “Army of the 12 Monkeys,” the group believed to have released the virus. The film is a dark, confusing, and brilliant story that makes you question reality and the nature of time itself.
Donnie Darko (2001)
Donnie Darko is a troubled teenager who sleepwalks and has visions of a large, creepy rabbit named Frank. Frank tells him the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. After a jet engine mysteriously crashes into his bedroom, Donnie is saved by Frank and begins to question his reality.
The film follows Donnie as he navigates high school life while trying to understand the strange events happening around him. He explores concepts of time travel, destiny, and tangent universes. It is a cult classic that is both a coming-of-age story and a complex science fiction puzzle.
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
College student Evan Treborn discovers that he can travel back to key moments in his childhood by reading from his old journals. He suffers from blackouts during traumatic events in his youth and hopes to fix the past for himself and his friends. He tries to create a better life for everyone.
However, every time he changes something in the past, he returns to a present that is drastically and often horribly altered. His good intentions lead to unforeseen and disastrous consequences. The film is a dark thriller that serves as a powerful warning about the dangers of meddling with the past.
Men in Black 3 (2012)
An old enemy of Agent K escapes from a lunar prison and travels back in time to 1969 to kill him. This action changes the present, and Agent J is the only one who remembers his partner. To save K and the world, J must also travel back to 1969.
In the past, J teams up with the younger version of Agent K to stop the assassination and an alien invasion. The film is a fun, action-comedy that adds depth to the relationship between its two main characters. It successfully blends humor with a surprisingly emotional time travel story.
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Gil Pender, a successful but unfulfilled screenwriter, is on vacation in Paris with his fiancée and her family. He is in love with the city and dreams of living there in the 1920s, which he considers the golden age. One night, while wandering the streets, a vintage car pulls up and invites him in.
He is magically transported back to the 1920s, where he meets his artistic and literary idols like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Every night, he returns to the past to escape his unsatisfying present. The film is a charming and whimsical look at nostalgia and the desire to live in another time.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
Three unhappy middle-aged friends and one of their nephews decide to relive their glory days with a trip to a ski resort they loved in the 1980s. The resort is now a dump, but they decide to party in the hot tub anyway. After a strange incident with their energy drink, they wake up in the year 1986.
They find themselves in their younger bodies and must try not to change anything that would alter their future. Of course, they fail miserably and end up reliving a wild weekend from their youth. The movie is a silly, rude, and often hilarious comedy that plays with 80s nostalgia.
The Lake House (2006)
Dr. Kate Forster leaves a note in the mailbox of the lake house she is moving out of for the next tenant. The new resident, an architect named Alex Wyler, finds the note and starts a correspondence with Kate. They soon discover that they are living two years apart, with Kate in 2006 and Alex in 2004.
Through their letters, they fall in love and must find a way to bridge the two-year gap that separates them. The film is a romantic drama that uses its unique time travel premise to explore love, fate, and longing. It’s a story about two people trying to connect across time.
Run Lola Run (1998)
Lola’s boyfriend, Manni, a small-time criminal, has lost a bag containing 100,000 Deutschmarks that belongs to his boss. He calls Lola in a panic, telling her she has 20 minutes to get the money to him before his boss arrives. Lola hangs up and starts running through the streets of Berlin.
The film shows three possible outcomes of Lola’s 20-minute run. Each run starts the same way, but small choices and chance encounters lead to completely different endings. The movie is a fast-paced, high-energy thriller that feels like a real-life video game, exploring how tiny moments can change everything.
Predestination (2014)
A Temporal Agent travels through time to prevent crimes before they happen. On his final mission, he must stop the “Fizzle Bomber,” a terrorist who has eluded him throughout his career. The mission involves a complex series of events that connect several characters in a mind-bending loop.
The story is based on a classic science fiction short story and is famous for its intricate plot and shocking twists. It explores themes of identity, free will, and causality paradoxes. This is a film that requires your full attention and will leave you thinking long after it’s over.
Primer (2004)
Two engineers, Aaron and Abe, accidentally invent a time machine in their garage while working on a different project. The machine is a simple box, but it can send them back a few hours in time. They decide to use their invention to play the stock market and get rich.
Their simple plan soon becomes complicated as they create multiple overlapping timelines. They begin to distrust each other as the paradoxes of time travel threaten their friendship and their sanity. The film is famous for its low budget, realistic dialogue, and extremely complex plot that treats time travel as a serious scientific problem.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
A decade after the first film, a new, more advanced Terminator is sent back in time. This one is made of liquid metal and can take any shape. Its mission is to kill the young John Connor, the future leader of the human resistance. However, the resistance sends back its own protector: a reprogrammed version of the original Terminator.
The reprogrammed Terminator must protect John and his mother, Sarah Connor, from the relentless liquid metal assassin. The movie is a landmark of action and science fiction, known for its groundbreaking special effects and thrilling story about fighting to change a dark future.
Groundhog Day (1993)
Phil Connors, an arrogant and cynical TV weatherman, is sent to the small town of Punxsutawney to cover the annual Groundhog Day festival. He makes no secret of his contempt for the town and the assignment. A blizzard traps him there, and when he wakes up the next morning, he finds it is Groundhog Day all over again.
Phil is stuck in a time loop, reliving the same day endlessly. At first, he uses it for selfish reasons, but he eventually becomes desperate and then begins to use the time to improve himself. The film is a classic comedy that has become the defining example of a time loop story, exploring themes of redemption and personal growth.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
After a family tragedy, a teenage boy named Jake follows clues that lead him to a mysterious orphanage in Wales. He discovers the home is for children with extraordinary abilities, or “peculiarities.” He also learns that they are living inside a time loop, repeating the same day in 1943 over and over.
The time loop, created by their headmistress Miss Peregrine, protects the children from monsters who hunt them. Jake discovers he has his own peculiarity and must help protect his new friends from danger. The film is a visually imaginative fantasy adventure that uses a time loop as a safe haven from the horrors of the outside world.
