People reliving the same day over and over again is not something new to the human experience.
It could be playing against a particular person or team, already knowing that you’re going to lose the same way, just like all the other times you have tried. It could be a new scandal rocking the government, but in reality, it’s an old one because it just keeps happening. It could be having an argument with the same person over the same thing, time, and time, and time again.
There are various ways to describe this experience of reliving the same day, again, again, and again. The first is an extreme form of déjà vu; which I feel deserves a blog post all on its own. Another is having a full-time job; every day is the same as the previous one. Another example is a time loop.
Living in a time loop could bring a plethora of emotions to the surface for a person, whether they are positive or negative, or in some cases, both of them.
Wait a minute Scott, what cases are you talking about?
I’m glad you asked. By the way, you ask amazing questions, well done.
Right, where was I? Of course, the list. Actually reliving the same day in reality would be as terrifying and dangerous as standing up at a women’s rights conference and booing. However, watching someone else work through their emotions during this traumatic time is a lot more entertaining.
I’m not an expert on pop culture, which is abundantly clear because of the lack of imagination in my writing, but also because I have not seen every movie in existence.
Having just said that I have made a list of some of my favourite movies that deal with time loops. As I ignore the sound of trumpets while I announce this, no Some Geek Told Me list would be complete without at least one exception!
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Groundhog Day (1993)
Let’s start with the most famous time loop movie of them all; Groundhog Day. Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is stuck in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, USA. It’s 2nd of February, Groundhog Day, and Connors is trapped in a time loop. No matter what happens to him during that day; no matter what, he wakes up in his bed unharmed at the inn at 6 a.m. on the 2nd of February.
Since the day is reset at 6 a.m., Connors remembers everything, but to the rest of the citizens of Punxsutawney, it’s the 2nd of February for the first time. You watch Connors experience every human emotion possible throughout his time in Punxsutawney, all the while trying to achieve a perfect day with his producer, Rita Hanson (Andie MacDowell).
When you meet Connors for the first time, he’s an arse, but as the movie moves forward, you start rooting for him. He slowly starts to change, which means he starts to care about the town. I’ve always liked this movie because the concept is simple and the dialogue is funny as hell.
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Based on the manga All You Need Is Kill, Edge of Tomorrow is a lot better than you think it is; it’s criminally underrated. The short version of this movie is that William Cage (Tom Cruise) is involved in a war with aliens named Mimics, that have invaded Europe.
Cage is killed during a battle after he kills a special type of alien. Some of the alien’s blood enters Cage’s body and after he dies, he wakes up on the previous day, unharmed. Cage retains the memories of the previous day, and with the help of Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), he learns the truth: every time he dies, he resets the day. And some of Cage’s deaths are hilarious!
As the movie progresses, and just like Connors in Groundhog Day, Cage starts to change. He starts to become an excellent soldier, but also a great leader. The concept of constantly dying to reset the day to win a war, brings a lot new level of intensity to a film that has amazing special and practical effects. Live. Die Repeat.
Happy Death Day (2017) and Happy Death Day 2U (2019)
Time looping with a masked serial killer. That is the best way to describe Happy Death Day and the sequel, Happy Death Day 2U. Theresa Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) wakes up in a strange dorm room on her birthday. Later that day, she is murdered by a person wearing a mask of her school mascot.
Gelbman then wakes up in the same dorm room, on the morning of her birthday. As the film moves along, Gelbman understands that every time she is murdered, she wakes up in the same place, at the same time. This allows Gelbman to investigate the killer’s identity, but to do so, she needs to keep dying until she learns the truth, and her deaths become very creative.
Just like Connors and Cage, Gelbman retains her memories of the past day, but nobody else. And just like Cage, Gelbman needs to die to reset the day. However there is a difference: every time she wakes up in the time loop, she is unharmed, but her body has remembered the damage, as her body shows evidence of recovering injuries.
Added that the sequel is even crazier than the original, these two films have taken the time loop genre to places that I’m ashamed to say that I enjoyed.
Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash (2018)
I bet you thought I was going to discuss The Flash (2023) and not a Lego movie, right? The Joker is attacking Metropolis with laughing gas and a fun cannon, so the Justice League is out to stop him. The problem is that Flash is running late because the fastest man alive is always late!
Flash arrives and saves the day, but is drawn into a race with another speedster. Flash wakes up in his room, and just like the same morning, he is running late. Flash soon realises that every time he saves everybody, he ends up racing the strange speedster at the end, then he wakes up in his room on the same day.
Flash is caught in a time loop, and the only person who knows what is going on or could help him break out of it is the strange yellow speedster. But Flash has to catch him first! I think the actual time loop section of the film is quite small, but it’s a plot device to set Flash up for the rest of the film.
This version of a time loop is different from the others, because it’s deliberate, courtesy of the Reverse-Flash!
UMC1, UMC2, and I think it’s hilarious watching Flash go from a happy, positive, and optimistic character, to someone angry, jaded, and desperate to break free of the time loop. We love this movie because Flash is one of UMC2’s favourite superheroes. It has super speed fights, time loops, milkshakes, and a Clown Batman, or is that a Batman Clown?
And here are some honorary mentions:
Run Lola Run (1998)
Primer (2004) 1
Premature (2014)
The Final Girls (2015)
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
Naked (2017)
Palm Springs (2020)
And now for the exception; it’s not a movie, or about a traditional time loop. However, it needs to be mentioned, because when my wife and I saw it, we were gob smacked by its originality.
Doctor Who: Season 9-Episode 11: Heaven Sent (2015)
I’m not going to give too many spoilers for this fantastic episode, because I would rather you discover it for yourself. The Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) wakes up in a teleporting tube, which appears to be inside a castle of some sort. He has no idea how he got there, how long he’s been there, or why he’s there, but he’s going to find out!
The Doctor soon discovers that he is being hunted, very slowly by a cloaked figure that never stops. The Doctor also learns that the castle is in the middle of an ocean, with no visible means of escaping. As the episode goes on, the Doctor slowly starts to learn, that somehow he has already been there before. He’s there for a very special reason, and more importantly, he has a job to accomplish.
Heaven Sent is easily the best episode of Season 9, if not one of the best episodes of Doctor Who or any television show ever. It’s a great example of why the character is beloved by fans, but also the extraordinary creativity of the production team.
Did I miss your favourite time loop movie out? As always, please let me know. Well, that’s another rant for another week. Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. And just like last week, please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, donate to the Gaza Humanitarian crisis, and I’ll see you next Monday.
1 Not technically a time loop movie, but it does have time travel with loops.
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