Review of Predestination (2013) by Harry W — 17 Jan 2015

Being a critically acclaimed Australian film with Ethan Hawke in the leading role, Predestination sounded intriguing even before I knew about its premise.

Predestination is a rather misleading film. It is no doubt a good piece, but based on what the advertising emphasises and the science fiction themes suggest, it fails to deliver on that. Although it doesn't surprise me, Predestination puts all the emphasis around the fact that Ethan Hawke plays the lead in the film and it therefore suggests that he is the most important part of the story. In actual fact, his role in the film and the story about travelling through time to prevent major crimes is a lot less relevant to what the story is telling. Predestination is not the science fiction thriller that I expected and Ethan Hawke does not play as big a role as I had hoped, so it failed to live up to my expectations.

Coincidentally, Predestination ends up largely familiar of another Ethan Hawke science fiction film, Gattaca. It explores a science fiction universe and the treatment of human's and their bodies within it. As the main character is an intersex woman who later becomes a transgender man, it has a very high concept premise in terms of its characters. The way the film explores her/him coming to terms with identity. By the end of the film, the viewer is far more likely to remember that as the key premise in the story. It ties into the other tale well by implementing in elements of time travel in a complicated but clever fashion. Some concepts such as the characters crossing themselves may be a bit overused in the film, but either way it is a thoroughly complex and intriguing science fiction film.

There is a lot to keep up with in Predestination, and the surplus of story elements may occasionally be overwhelming especially considering they deal with paradoxical elements and time travel concepts, yet writer-directors Michael and Peter Spierig manage to give the film a strong script to explain it all and a gentle pace which allows it all to unfold in due time without ever being very boring. The entertainment value in the film is fairly consistent as the screenplay in the film is very intelligent and handled with strong visual gusto by the directors who manage to bring the 1959 short story that the film is based on into the 21st century and point out how it is very relevant today while exploring the tale as the complex science fiction story that it is. It may move along rather slowly for some, but all in all the material manages to keep things going well. Predestination is a science fiction film which is about story and characters, and while it may not explore its universe perfectly, the fact that it resorts to focusing more on ideas than visuals which means that it is about the story instead of a budget. In a generation of cinema where science fiction blockbusters are all about looking good without feeling good, Predestination stands out as a film which bothers to ask questions and break conventions without spending too much money in the process which is a very admirable asset. Viewers are likely to walk away from Predestination having been challenged to think about everything they saw and likely to be entertained by it as well, even if some elements of the film are a little complex while others are a bit too simple. The story isn't always perfect, but it is certainly one that is difficult to forget.

And as a matter of ensuring that the film succeeds on a human level, Predestination benefits from the efforts of a strong cast.

Sarah Snook's leading performance in Predestination is the greatest part of the film. Challenged with the part of an intersex woman and later transgender man, she faces a part which has a seriously complicated identity. Without a problem, she steps up to the part and captures the complicated psychology of the part. She takes on the role of The Unmarried Mother and approaches it really well, putting most of her focus into emphasising strong line delivery to express a sense of development. As the flashbacks in the story unfold, viewers witness Sarah Snook turn a determined young girl into a sad young man, grasping the emotional difficulties of the situations without fear and doing it all with subtly dramatic strength. She delivers all her lines with a sense of nihilistic loss, the kind that suggests that the hope once brewing within her character has been lost by the value in her character's life being taken away which is reflected through the story. Sarah Snook grasps her complicated role in Predestination with a lot of charisma, and so the film serves as a breakthrough for her.

Ethan Hawke is also in fine form. While his general role in the film is downplayed to make way for the presence of Sarah Snook, he manages to deliver a good effort because he is deeply enticed in the character. Approaching all of his situations like they are a game to win, Ethan Hawke captures a single tone of emotion for the Temporal Agent role and sticks to it without ever playing the part in any hollow manner. He interacts with Sarah Snook with genuine interest in her character and he manages to maintain the right level of charisma in the role so that he never comes off as anything but determined, challenged only when the story demands that he face the truth about himself. Ethan Hawke manages to do it all well in Predestination, and his chemistry with Sarah Snook is the best thing that he brings to the film.

So Predestination is a misleading film which moves along at a slow pace and is a lot more about the talking than the thrills, but as a complex study of human beings against the backdrop of a story about the human condition and time travel, it works as a thought provoking feature and vehicle for the talents of Sarah Snook.