Director: Louis Morneau. 068
Writing Credits: Michael Hamilton Wright, Robert Strauss. Production Companies: Cohiba Pictures.
Distribution: Orion Pictures Entertainment.
Actors: James Belushi (Frank), Kylie Travis (Karen), Shannon Whirry (Rayanne), Frank Whaley (Brian).
Runtime: 91 minutes.
The Internet Movie Database User Rating: 6.3/10 1,616 votes
Overview: A scientist is doing time travel experiments on a mouse. A young woman runs into his lab and is accidentally sent back 20 minutes in time. She then visits him again, but he does not recognise her, as they have not met yet.
Plot Synopsis: Brian is a lab scientist doing Retroactive Experiment #12 on a mouse. His twelfth time travel experiment will be his last, as he is about to be shut down by the Pentagon. Any subject passed through the machine will have total recollection of all that has happened, but the scientist will have no memory of the events. Karen suddenly enters his lab trying to escape from Frank, a madman chasing her with a gun. Brian accidentally knocks his keyboard, which triggers his time machine and catapults her back 20 minutes in time. She re-lives the experience, but her efforts to change it for the better only make it worse. She runs away from Frank again and back to the lab, where Brian, of course does not recognise her, as he has not met her yet. She goes back in time again, but takes him with her, so that this time, he will remember what is going to happen and will be able to call the police. However, this time, even more people get killed. She and Brian end up back at the lab as hostages of Frank, who insists he is sent back for a couple of hours, so he can relive the experience of killing everyone all over again. After a big fight, Brian and Karen are flung back a couple of hours to the point in the story when the film begun. This last time, when Frank pulls up to give her a lift, she refuses to get in. She stops the police car that follows soon after and tells the cop about Frank. Then Brian picks her up and by the time they arrive at the gas station, everyone is dead except Frank’s wife, who has just shot him. The policeman tells Karen and
Genre: Science Fiction – Transporting Body Through Time.
My Comments: Whoever goes back the furthest in time will create a new timeline that replaces all others. It seems that going back in time and changing past events will not always make for a better future, just like in the film, The Butterfly Effect (2004).
Time Travel Summary: The past is open because it is changed and the timeline diverges each time someone goes back. Karen seems to be stuck in an endless time loop, but she does finally escape from it, just like Phil Connors did in the movie,
Groundhog Day (1993). Although both films use the same timeline diagram (as shown
below) they have different models of time. Phil has no choice about his future and it is therefore closed. Because she is using a time machine, Karen can choose to keep going back in time until she arrives at a favourable future, so the future in this film is therefore open. Note that there were more diverging timelines in the film than shown in the diagram below:
Model of Time:
Open past, open future Diverging timeline
Returner (2002)
aka 'Ritana'
Director: Takashi Yamazaki. 069
Writing Credits: Kenya Hirata, Takashi Yamazaki.
Production Companies: Amuse, Fuji Television Network, Imagica Corp., Robot, Shirogumi, Toho Company.
Distribution: Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Actors: Takeshi Kaneshiro (Miyamoto), Anne Suzuki (Milly), Kirin Kiki (Xie). Runtime: 116 minutes.
The Internet Movie Database User Rating: 6.7/10 4,070 votes
Overview: In 2084, invading aliens are overrunning the Earth. A teenage girl is sent back in time to 2002, just as the first alien is arriving. She tries to find him and work out why the invasion started.
Plot Synopsis: Milly is a teenager living on Earth in 2084. Invading aliens are
overrunning the human race, so she is sent back in time to 2002, just as the first alien is arriving. She tricks hit man, Miyamoto, into helping her find this first alien and to work out how the war begun, so they can prevent it. They discover that a mafia boss, named Mizoguchi, caused the war by kidnapping the first alien for his own reasons, causing a whole fleet of them to come looking for him. When her mission is complete, Milly wishes to return to her time, but is unable to figure out how to do that.
Genre: Science Fiction - Transporting Body Through Time.
My Comments: Without her returning home, we will never know if Milly was able to stop the future invasion. If the future were predestined, then her actions would have made little difference, as the timeline would have converged. If the model of time had a parallel timeline, she would have only created a new parallel destiny and the old
timeline would have remained unchanged.
Time Travel Summary: The model of time used in this movie is the one that suggests Milly did make a difference by completing her mission, thus causing the timeline to diverge so that the invasion can be avoided.
Model of Time:
Open past, open future Diverging timeline