Warning: This article contains spoilers for About Time.About Timeis a sci-fi rom-com that includes one of the most interesting sets of time travel rules in fiction.Starring Domhnall Gleesonand Rachel McAdams,About Timetells the story of a young man who finds out his family has time-travel powers. More specifically,all men from his father’s side of the family can go back in time.While Tim and his father cannot travel to the future, they can go to the past, make whatever changes, and then return to the present. As soon as Tim learns about his powers, he begins to use them in his favor.
Tim never uses time travel for financial gain, but his usage of time travel is far from selfless. The movie manages to balance the certain level of horror that comes with the power to drastically change everything around you with the levity of a love story. Althoughhow time travel worksis not the focus of the movie,About Timehas a surprisingly consistent set of rulesthat makes the movie even more enjoyable. Tim never creates alternate timelines or new versions of himself. Every change he makes impacts his life, with no easy way out.
About Time Goes Against The Usual Time Travel Movie Rules
There Are No Alternate Timelines In About Time
One of the most popular time travel rules in fiction is that, if you go back in time and change something, a new timeline is created.There are dozens of variations of this trope, such as the idea that some changes may be small enough for the original timeline to accommodate, whereas others end up creating new timelines entirely. FromBack to the FutureandTerminatortoSteins; Gateand everything in between, almost alltime travel moviesand TV shows work better under the assumption that there are multiple timelines.
However,inAbout Time, everything happens in one timeline, even though there are at least two active time travelers during the events of the film. Every change Tim or his dad makes to the past has an effect on the only timeline there is. The movie leaves no room for theories or speculation regarding the existence of other timelines, as we follow Tim and his perspective on all the changes he makes.About Time’s very premise is that Tim and his father can rewrite their lives at will.
About Time is not the only time travel movie starring Rachel McAdams — she was also inThe Time Traveler’s WifeandDoctor Strange.
While the multiple timelines tropes are a great way to solve time travel paradoxes – it doesn’t matter if you killed your grandfather if you’re in a different timeline – it often lowers the emotional stakes of a story. Unless carefully written, establishing that time travel creates new timelines can come off as a cheap trick to avoid paradoxes and plot holes. If what a time traveler did in the past has no consequences for the present where they come from, everything risks being pointless.About Timeisn’t too worried about the mechanics of its time travelbut rather about Tim’s character.
About Time Cleverly Uses The Butterfly Effect Trope
Tim’s Actions Have Real Consequences
Another populartime travel movie tropeis the butterfly effect, which, in this context, establishes that even the smallest changes to the past can lead to massive changes to the known present. The butterfly effect trope is usually associated with the concept of alternate timelines, meaning that a small change made to the past can be big enough to create a brand-new timeline. WhileAbout Timeadheres to the butterfly effect concept, it uses it very cleverly. Tim struggles to get the things he wants because he can never predict the outcome of the changes he makes.
8 Best Time Travel Romantic Movies
The best time travel romance movies capture something essential about relationships and the impossible desire to go back and tamper with the past.
For example, shortly after meeting Kate for the first time, Tim goes back in time to help save his friend’s play. While he succeeds at doing so, he returns to a present in which he and Mary never met.Tim then has to travel back in time a couple more times before he and Mary can finally meetunder the right circumstances again. The biggest butterfly effect inAbout Timeis when Tim goes back to help his sister, and once he returns to the present, he has a son instead of a daughter.
About Time’s Time Travel Mechanics Make Tim’s Journey Even Better
Tim Always Remember How Things Were Before He Changed Them
About Time’s time travel rules are good enough for the movie, especially because the heart of the story isn’t really Tim’s powers but rather what he does with it. Whereas a lot of time travel stories involve an actual physical trip from one point in time to another – usually involving a time machine –About Timeis almost as if Tim is sending his consciousness back in time.There are never two Tims at any point in time, which, inmovies likeBack to the Futureor shows likeThe Flash, often leads to plot holes.
Tim and his father always remember how things were before they changed the past, which adds to their moral dilemma regarding when and how to use their powers.
Tim’s powers allow us to watch the changes made to the timeline from his perspective. It makes for a very personal story where the narrator can change what came before at will. It also leads to the moral dilemma that sets the narrative forAbout Time– should you keep changing the past if you may do so to achieve the things you want? An interesting detail is thatTim and his father always remember how things were before they changed the past,which adds to their moral dilemmaregarding when and how to use their powers.
About Time Is More Than Just About Time Travel
The Movie Is More About Life Than About Time
Regardless of how much I like how time travel works inAbout Time, the movie is way more than just a set of sci-fi rules. It is also not just a romantic comedy either.About Timeuses time travel to comment on our perception of time and life itself, highlighting how, outside of fiction, we do not have the chance to go back and fix things or relive a moment. Although it seems like the point of the movie is whether Tim should change things or not, this isn’t quite the lesson he learns.
$12 million
$87 million
71%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score
82%
About Timeends with Tim learning from his father that the best way to use his powers is to live the same day twice – one to make it through all the challenges life puts in your way, and the other to appreciate all the little moments we cannot properly experience amidst the chaos of adulthood. Tim eventually starts using time travel not to fix or change things but rather to ensure he is making the most of every minute he has with the people he loves, including his dying father.
About Time
Cast
When Tim Lake learns that he, like all the men in his family, has the ability to travel back in time, he decides to use this ability to help him find love and improve his and his loved ones' lives.
