Waiting for Deathloop: five thriller films based on time paradoxes

Deathloop is coming, finally: two years after the official announcement at E3 2019, the new creature from Arkane Studios is preparing to land on PS5 and PC, bringing 2021 to the videogame landscape a tense thriller based on one of the most fascinating plots in science fiction, the time paradox.

In the role of Colt, hero of the game, we will have to break the swirling time loop that blocks us on the island of Blackreef.

To do this we can do only two things: kill eight targets scattered around the world of the game and, at the same time, try to prevent the professional killer juliana kill us in order to restart the loop.

It is a powerful and fascinating narrative ploy, which we have repeatedly found in genre novels and films, capable of involving and leading to reflect on many philosophical ideas.

So today we present five films that, like Deathloop, they question the order of space and especially of time.

Ready?

Let's start!

5)Terminator

Released in 1984, built on the theme of time travel (and their consequences) and supported by a rigorous tone that only James Cameron could have given to a story on trivial paper, Terminator is one of the most famous of the films dealing with the theme of the time paradox through a close and brutal action story.

The plot is well known: on a night like many others, in Los Angeles they challenge each other a killer cyborg tasked with killing a young girl named Sarah Connor (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and a brave human soldier ready to save the girl's life(Michael Biehn).

The clash will be shotgun and strange intertwining of eras, and will lead to extraordinary results: in fact, it is the salvation of humanity from a cruel and merciless slavery.

4)Tenet

Released in September 2020 after a long period of limbo due to Covid-19, Tenet, Christopher Nolan's latest film (Inception, the trilogy of The Dark Knight) is a film that reworks the theme of time travel in an original and labyrinthine way.

Chasing from afar the structure of its director's most famous film, Memento, Tenet is proposed as a thriller with a science fiction outline in which a handful of secret agents must eliminate an invention which, acting on time, risks forever altering its order and, therefore, compromising the existence of the world.

Although not linked to the principle of "Day that starts all over again" Owned by Deathloop, Tenet is a spectacular example of how a tense story based on action can play on the found of timelines through a visionary and carefully constructed script.

Not the best Nolan, especially compared to his other films of the last decade, but a very enjoyable blockbuster with an ensemble cast that includes John David Washington (son of Denzel), Robert Pattinson and Kenneth Brannagh.

3)Looper

Although the plot of Looper, a 2012 film directed by Rian Johnson (Star Wars-Episode VIII) is far from the “day of the groundhog” scheme, in it the presence of paradoxes has a necessary function to the plot.

Joe is a professional killer who has a very particular method of murder: thanks to illegal time machines, criminals of the future can send people back over the years to be killed for getting hitmen like Joe to do the dirty work without making anyone suspicious in the present.

There is only one problem: with the approach of the “future“, Every killer must prepare to eliminate the mature version of himself, to erase all traces of his criminal activity.

In Joe's case, the matter will get hot and risk compromising the entire system.

To make the film even more interesting, two exceptional actors in the role of the two Joes: Joseph Gordon-Lewit (Inception) and Bruce Willis (who needs no introduction).

Classic sci-fi film built with a small budget and strong idea, Looper is not a perfect film, but it gives an idea of ​​the power of the temporal paradox as a narrative cog even today, after many other films on the same wavelength.

2)The Edge of Tomorrow-Senza Domani

What happens when the “Ricomincio da Capo” formula is applied to a film by by Tom Cruise?

Simple: it is born The Edge of Tomorrow, gigantic blockbuster billionaire of 2014 with the protagonist of Top Gun and with Emily Blunt.

Planet Earth, future (once again): Mimics, an extradimensional alien population, threaten to take over the world, turning cities into battlefields. Major Cage (Cruise) in his first fight, is killed by an enemy, but he finds himself living again the twenty-four hours before his death, trapped inside a mysterious time loop.

Bizarre, do you say? Don't worry, he's alone the plot of a gigantic war film that brings together science fiction finds, good feelings, events that repeat themselves over and over and the face of an eternal young man of Tom Cruise. We are not at the level of great science fiction cinema, of course, but it works, entertains and gives beautiful pieces of entertainment cinema.

1)Source Code

Released in 2010 by Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie and author of other successful sci-fi films), Source Code is an intriguing variation on the theme of the time loop, applied to a well-articulated action / thriller scenario.

Colter Stevens, a US soldier, finds himself constantly reliving his death aboard a train near Chicago, victim of a terrorist attack.

His is a real mission: the explosion involving him has already occurred days before, and Colter, on behalf of the government, finds himself living in the body of one of the passengers in order to investigate the attack. All thanks to a futuristic technology (the source code, in fact).

To achieve his goal, however, Colter has only a few minutes, before the explosion happens and the loop starts all over again.

On paper, Source Code's premises are similar to those seen in The Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise, but exploited within a thriller setting in a more human, engaging and therefore exciting dimension, thanks also to the good acting rehearsals of Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monhagan.

The theme of time travel and their paradoxes has always fascinated cinema, literature and, obviously, video games.

Thanks to its innovative gameplay and next-gen power, Deathloop promises to make us live an adrenaline and spectacular story. But if this type of story is for you, and if you can't wait to immerse yourself in the mood of the new Arkane game, then you can start with five films that make tension and intrigue their fundamental traits.

Have you seen them all?