Rewind

Rewind

Year: 2013

Runtime: 76 mins

Language: English

Director: Jack Bender

A team of military operatives and scientists utilize experimental time travel technology to journey into the past. Their mission is to prevent a catastrophic terrorist attack and reshape the future. Originally produced as a feature-length pilot for a television series, it was released as a made-for-TV movie.

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline & Setting – Rewind (2013)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Rewind (2013). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

Present day, with excursions into 1929, 1934 and 1975

The story starts in a contemporary New York setting and uses a time-window device to visit past eras. It drops characters into Washington in 1929, England in 1934, and a mid-1970s timeframe to observe how past events shape the present. The shifting timelines drive the plot and create urgency as the future of New York hangs in the balance.

Location

Midtown Manhattan, New York, Washington, D.C., England

The narrative unfolds around a bomb threat in Midtown Manhattan, anchoring the action in a dense urban core. Time-window technology also leads characters through tense scenes in Washington, D.C. and across historical England, highlighting a global stage for the crisis. The places act as stages for moral choices and the consequences of tampering with time.

🏙️ Urban density 🌍 Global stakes

Last Updated: October 01, 2025 at 10:02

Main Characters – Rewind (2013)

Meet the key characters of Rewind (2013), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Shaun Knox (Shane McRae)

A determined, grief-stricken man who believes saving millions justifies bent rules and dangerous experiments. He clings to the memory of his late wife and becomes obsessed with extracting a path to her return.

⏳ Protagonist 💔 Grief 🧭 Time traveler

Danny Gates (Robbie Jones)

A practical, protective ally who navigates the mission with caution. He provides a stabilizing voice and a willingness to take risks for Shaun’s goals and Jess’s safety.

🤝 Ally 🚗 Driver 🧭 Moral compass

Jessica Knox (Jess) (Melanie Scrofano)

Shaun’s wife, a central motivation and emotional anchor. She embodies resilience as danger surrounds her, and her safety becomes a rallying point for the team's actions.

❤️ Love 🧭 Motivation 🕊️ Hope

Dr. Benjamin Rourke (David Cronenberg)

A renowned scientist whose work with the time-window drives the plot. His true motives remain enigmatic as the team relies on his discoveries to attempt saving New York.

🔬 Scientist 🧩 Mystery 💥 Catalyst

Lyndsay Bryce (Jennifer Ferrin)

A scientific adviser who balances ethics with urgency, guiding the team through historical timelines and debating the risks of altering the past.

🧠 Advisor 🔬 Ethicist 🕊️ Mediator

Priya (Keisha Castle-Hughes)

An information analyst who curates history periods, taboos, and costumes to help the team navigate the past safely.

🧠 Researcher 🗺️ Timeline navigator 🧭 Guide

Charlie (Keon Alexander)

A tech specialist who designs the program to calculate the effects of changes, balancing ambition with caution to preserve the timeline.

💻 Technician 🧭 Strategist 🧠 Engineer

Marsden (Chris Ratz)

A wary operations figure connected to the time-window apparatus; he also plays a protective role toward the younger characters and witnesses the mission’s stakes.

🕵️‍♂️ Witness 🧭 Temporal navigator 💼 Protector

Jenny Marsden (Skyler Wexler)

Marsden’s younger sister, a symbol of the human costs behind time travel and a reminder of why the mission’s risks matter.

👧 Child 🧭 Human cost 💖 Family

Ellis (Jeff Fahey)

A military-administrative figure who weighs civilian risk against national security, navigating political pressure as the clock ticks.

🏛️ Authority 🧭 Strategist ⏱️ Urgency

President (Kenneth Welsh)

The head of state aware of the threat, whose decisions bind political action to the city’s fate and the mission’s timeline.

🏛️ Leader 🗳️ Politics 🕰️ Timely decisions

John Malcolm (Matthew Bennett)

A specialist soldier on the mission, whose combat discipline supports the team as they navigate the dangers of time travel.

🗡️ Soldier 🧭 Team player 🧩 Specialist

General Randell Webb (Paulino Nunes)

A senior military figure who weighs civilian costs against national security needs, often pushing for decisive action.

🎖️ General 🧭 Decision-maker 🧯 Pressure

Chief (Robert B. Kennedy)

A high-level security official handling protocols and the flow of information during the crisis.

🛡️ Authority 🧭 Policy maker 🗝️ Gatekeeper

Secretary of State (Rosemary Dunsmore)

A diplomatic voice in the crisis, communicating government strategy and maintaining public confidence.

🕊️ Diplomacy 🧭 Public affairs 🗣️ Messenger

Agent #1 (Jamaal Grant)

A field agent involved in the investigation and operations surrounding the crisis.

🕵️‍♂️ Field agent 🧭 Operative

Agent #2 (Chris Violette)

An agent assisting with the security operations and the timeline's manipulation.

🕵️ Field agent 🧭 Operative

Last Updated: October 01, 2025 at 10:02

Major Themes – Rewind (2013)

Explore the central themes of Rewind (2013), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

⏳ Time and Consequence

Time travel drives the plot and exposes how even small changes can ripple across eras. The team must weigh the benefits of saving millions against potentially catastrophic alterations to history. The film foregrounds cause and effect as a central ethical tension.

💔 Love and Sacrifice

Personal relationships propel the mission: Shaun’s grief over his wife and Jess’s safety motivate risky choices. Characters grapple with love’s power to justify dangerous acts and the cost of survival. Sacrifice becomes the price of attempting to rewrite fate.

🔬 Ethics of Technology

The time-window device is a brilliant but dangerous tool, prompting debates about meddling with history for national or personal gain. Military and political leaders push for use despite unknown downstream effects. The story asks whether knowledge should be used when it can erase or end lives.

Last Updated: October 01, 2025 at 10:02

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Explore Movie Threads

Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.

Time travel thrillers with urgent missions like Rewind

Races against time to rewrite history and prevent global catastrophe.If you liked the high-stakes time travel mission in Rewind, you'll enjoy these movies where teams or individuals race against the clock to prevent disaster. They share a tense, fast-paced atmosphere and explore the heavy responsibility of changing history.

urgentsuspensefulhigh-stakestenseanxiousrace against timeprocedural

Narrative Summary

The narrative typically follows a clear, linear mission: identify a past catastrophic event, travel back to stop it, and navigate unforeseen consequences. The journey is a procedural race against time, often with technological limitations and moral dilemmas complicating the straightforward goal.

Why These Movies?

Movies are grouped here based on their shared core premise of a time-critical intervention, a tense and fast-paced tone driven by a clear threat, and the exploration of scientific and ethical implications of altering history.

Sci-fi thrillers with bittersweet endings like Rewind

Stories where stopping a disaster comes with a heavy, uncertain price.For viewers who appreciated the complex, uncertain victory in Rewind, this list features movies where saving the day leaves deep scars. These stories explore the heavy cost of heroism in high-concept scenarios, blending relief with reflection.

bittersweettensereflectivehigh-stakesmoral dilemmacost of victoryunsettling

Narrative Summary

The narrative arc follows a successful mission against a major threat, but the resolution deliberately undermines a purely happy ending. Instead, it highlights the sacrifices made, the ethical lines crossed, or the instability of the new status quo, leaving the characters and the audience with a mix of accomplishment and unease.

Why These Movies?

This thread connects films that share a specific emotional conclusion: a successful outcome that feels incomplete or costly. The unifying element is the blend of narrative resolution with emotional or thematic ambiguity, creating a reflective and thought-provoking end to a tense story.

Unlock the Full Story of Rewind

Don't stop at just watching — explore Rewind in full detail. From the complete plot summary and scene-by-scene timeline to character breakdowns, thematic analysis, and a deep dive into the ending — every page helps you truly understand what Rewind is all about. Plus, discover what's next after the movie.

Rewind Summary

Read a complete plot summary of Rewind, including all key story points, character arcs, and turning points. This in-depth recap is ideal for understanding the narrative structure or reviewing what happened in the movie.

Rewind Summary

Rewind Timeline

Track the full timeline of Rewind with every major event arranged chronologically. Perfect for decoding non-linear storytelling, flashbacks, or parallel narratives with a clear scene-by-scene breakdown.

Rewind Timeline

Rewind Spoiler-Free Summary

Get a quick, spoiler-free overview of Rewind that covers the main plot points and key details without revealing any major twists or spoilers. Perfect for those who want to know what to expect before diving in.

Rewind Spoiler-Free Summary

More About Rewind

Visit What's After the Movie to explore more about Rewind: box office results, cast and crew info, production details, post-credit scenes, and external links — all in one place for movie fans and researchers.

More About Rewind