Review of Predestination (2013) by Peachichic1800 M — 02 Mar 2015

I love time travel movies, and lately I've been on a kick with independent sci-fi flicks. Predestination is one of the best indie sci fi films I've ever seen, and a mind-trip of a time travel movie. Set in a time and a world that is foreign to ours, directors Michael and Peter Spierig do a fantastic job creating such a marvelous and fully-fleshed out world for the characters of Predestination to inhabit. The art direction and special effects departments must have worked overtime on this film, because with such a small budget they transport and orient the audience to a different kind of world with different kinds of rules.

What I love most about Predestination is how wacky of a movie it is. Don't expect to see a realistic world of time travel where the filmmakers are trying to make sense out of everything. This is a pulpy sci fi film that is full of surprises, twist and turns, and a mystery that unravels at the perfect pace. The Spierig brothers perfectly handle telling this story in a way that is compelling and intriguing without really losing the audience or giving too much away too quick.

With an amazing, and hopefully career building, performance from Sarah Snook, Predestination will make you really care about the characters involved as much as you care about the story. Ethan Hawke is perfectly cast as the mysterious time travel agent, and even gives a pretty wacky turn of his own towards the end of the film. Most of the film is listening to Snook and Hawke talk, and these two actors are perfectly capable of handling that weight.

It's not a perfect time travel film, but it's a fun one that will tease your brain. It's not trying to be plot-hole proof, but it's just trying to take you on a fun ride. On that level, Predestination completely succeeds.