Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson’s 11th Anniversary Movie Avoided Common Time Travel Plot Holes Thanks to One Simple Rule

When it comes to time travel movies, it can be difficult to keep the rules of the magic system straight, but It’s about timethe oft-forgotten 2013 romance film, handles this problem perfectly. Starring Rachel McAdams and Domnhall Gleeson, It’s about time tells the story of Tim, a young man who discovers that the men in his family can travel to the past. Hoping to use his new ability to improve his life, Tim uses time travel to get a girlfriend, Mary. However, Tim quickly learns that not even this magic can save him from life’s inevitabilities.

Time travel is a pretty popular trope in film and TV. Many notable time travel films allow characters to visit places they could never have visited before, but the ability almost inevitably causes a multitude of logic and story problems. For example, characters try to change history and end up affecting the rest of the timeline. Another issue is characters meeting in the past or future, which leads to identity crises and multiverses, as well as plot holes for the audience to ponder. Miraculously, It’s about time avoid all this thanks to a simple rule.

About time travel only involved the mind, not the body

How time travel works

The main difference between It’s about time and other time travel projects is the fact that Tim travels through time in his mind, not his body. Typically, a time traveler will physically move from the present to the past or future. They are basically copied and pasted from one segment of the timeline to another. It’s about time it doesn’t work like that. Tim’s body remains rooted in due time, but his mind is what is being copied and pasted. Thus, he is able to embody himself at various points in his past, instead of physically moving through time.

Although this may seem like a subtle difference, it allows It’s about time to avoid common time travel problems. Tim never has to worry about finding himself in the past, nor appearing in timelines he doesn’t belong in. He can only travel through his own lived past. This may seem like a huge creative constraint, but it actually keeps It’s about time to be very complicated. More, Tim still uses his time travel in interesting waysincluding meeting Maria at several different times so that their love story progresses without external obstacles.

It’s about time not sending Tim to the past avoided so many problems

What makes time travel tropes so exhausting

Ultimately, About the Team Time travel system helped make the movie better. Tim’s time travel definitely creates problems in the film, but it’s not necessarily the main source of conflict. The great force Tim must fight against is actually life itself. He tries to use his time travel to prevent real-life problems from occurring, but quickly learns that life will happen no matter what he does. People will make mistakes, miss opportunities, and even die, no matter how hard Tim tries to fight it. This is a more compelling story than one focused on the problems time travel creates.

It’s about time in fact, it shows how exhausting time travel movies can be. Because time travel is a very popular feature in stories, audiences can often see exactly how a situation will unfold. Instead of being invested in what the character is doing, they are predicting what will happen later in the story, and for the most part, the film plays out exactly that way. Time travel becomes less exciting the more it is used. However, It’s about time flips the script in a way that makes time travel interesting again.

About Time is a classic example of how to make time travel work

Why there need to be more films like About Time

However, It’s about time is a perfect example of how non-science fiction time travel films should be treated today. Instead of creating a complex and confusing time travel system or falling into the same old tropes, movies should make time travel secondary to the main story. It should contribute to the story, but not be the main issue at hand. It’s about time It’s about time travel, but really, it’s about enjoying every part of your life and accept when bad things happen. More films should take a page from About the Team book.

A common complaint surrounding films centered on time travel is their incoherent story. Large franchises, such as Terminatorwere saddled with plot inconsistencies and logic gaps, all caused by their central time travel device. However, if these films built their systems in less complicated ways and focused on the human elements of the story, audiences might be more forgiving. It’s about time is a prime example of how, when it comes to time travel, less can be more.