Review of Predestination (2013) by Jack F — 07 Apr 2016

Chances are, if you've ever experienced any kind of entertainment involving time travel, you've come across the phenomena referred to as the "predestination paradox." Some uses in pop culture include the "Terminator" film series, the third Harry Potter story "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," and the fifth season of the TV series "LOST." The "predestination paradox" refers to a situation in which an event from the future is the cause of an event from the past, which then in turn causes the aforementioned future event. (Think John Connor's lineage or the development of Skynet in the "Terminator" movies.).

There's always an underlying sense of complexity and contradiction that goes along with this feature (hence, the word "paradox"). But "Predestination," the 2014 sci-fi film by the Spierig brothers ("Daybreakers"), based on a short story by Robert A. Heinlein, takes this to a whole new level. It's a trippy, mind-bending film, the kind you want to watch a second time immediately after your first, just to try and sort your way through it. Does it all hold together? I'm not particularly sure (perhaps a second viewing would help), but I feel like enough of it does. Questions are inevitable with these kind of ventures, but if it's a trip worth taking--and I feel like this one is--that shouldn't be a deterrent. There are some interesting and unique ideas here-though I'm not certain how much of this is Heinlein and how much is the Spierigs, as I haven't read Heinlein's short story-and I enjoyed the movie's approach to time travel.

There are essentially two stories being told here. One involves a law enforcement agency that attempts to solve crimes before they happen, effectively changing the future. To that end, their agents employ time travel, zipping back and forth throughout the decades to whatever destination their investigation takes them. One such agent (Ethan Hawke) has been on the trail of a mad bomber for some time now, coming close but never succeeding in catching his man. The problem is, with every failure, the bomber's tactics change, and the timeline does as well. This means the bomber's targets are altered along with history, making it extremely tricky to pin him down.

The other story involves a young woman (Sarah Snook) in a bar in 1975, relating the bizarre, tragic story of her life, from the young man who broke her heart to the life-altering surgery she was forced to endure. On the surface, these two stories couldn't seem any more unrelated-in fact, they almost seem to be stories from different movies altogether-but they eventually converge in ways both satisfying and heartbreaking. Just be patient and let the movie play out.

Like all sci-fi films, this one offers all kinds of thoughts and ideas, and with a title like "Predestination," it should come as no surprise that its main theme revolves around the concept of fate and inevitability. Do we do the things we do in life because we're predestined to do them? And what if we know what the future holds for certain decisions we make; can we choose NOT to make them? Or, since we're talking about destiny, is choice not even an option? Are Hawke and Snook victims of the flow of time, or are they perhaps the manipulators?

No doubt "Predestination" is meant to provoke discussion of these points. It's a thriller, but it's also a challenging thriller, and that's a very good thing. It contains the requisite plot twists you'll find in most time-travel movies, but the cool thing is that, while you may figure out one twist ahead of time, there's likely another one right behind it that may cause you to see the movie in a whole new light. That's what I meant when I said you'd want to watch it again once it was over.

This is a solid, well-crafted film. It has some fascinating ideas and Snook is superb, giving new definition to the term "mutli-layered performance." She's sweet, jaded, vulnerable, and bitter, sometimes all at once, and she's never less than 100% convincing. "Predestination" is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I get the sense that the movie, much like its embattled heroine, would not only accept that but also prefer it.