Well… there
it is Spierig Brothers… my mind is blown. Whether or not
this movie 'Predestination' will blow your mind or not, dear
reader, I cannot say. But we will be very careful in
describing this film to you as not ruin any potential mind
blowing opportunities which may await you, should you choose
to take the challenge of this film on.
Our film starts with a bit of action, as we follow a guy who
has gone back in time to finally try to stop this cretin known
as the Fizzle Bomber. I know… awful name, but what can
you do. The op doesn't go well, there is an explosion
and this guy we are following is severely burned, but he does
manage to make it back to his current time which is the future
or something. I can't remember. But I do remember
that he needed a bit of reconstructive facial surgery, and now
he looks just like Ethan Hawke.
The character Ethan Hawke plays is a temporal agent, meaning
he uses this fancy time machine given to him by his boss Mr.
Robertson (Noah Taylor) to stop future crimes from happening,
and he's quite good at it saving many lives, except for that
cursed Fizzle Bomber who has been eluding him for years.
But no worries, Mr. Taylor thinks he has a line on where this
Fizzle Bomber is in the time space continuum, and sends his
agent back to 1976 where he should be making an appearance.
Now the movie slows down, and here's where it gets a little
strange because where we started out with an action sequence
and this Sci-Fi basis, now 'Predestination' shifts gears
completely. Our Agent works at some sleazy bar as a
bartender when this dude walks into the bar. This dude
(Sarah Snook) is looking a little strange to us because he
does look kind of effeminate, but the bartender strikes up a
conversation and while this dude is one bitter person, he has
a story to tell.
And thus
this is the bulk of the film as this dude tells The Bartender
the story of his life, one that began with him being girl, and
the awful, awful things that this poor person has experienced
up to this point in his misbegotten life. Is any of this
going to help The Bartender find the elusive Fizzle
Bomber? Well…
What we have here my friends is a Time Travel Movie.
Time Travel Movies are strange because there are rules that
have to be acknowledged, kind of, but not necessarily
followed, not really, because time travel doesn't exist.
The Speirig brothers have taken whatever rules we might think
that might be in place for time travel, and totally flips it
on its head. Or I guess Robert A. Heinlen's short story
'All You Zombies' flipped time travel on its head since this
is what this movie is based off of.
When the movie starts off, with its nicely realize action
sequence, complete with a bomb ticking down to triple zero,
then we follow that up at the futuristic place where the
shadowy agency that is governing our time travel agents, it
looks like we are in for a bravura, science fiction, action
filled cinematic experience. But then 'Predestination'
shifts its tone and to be completely honest it's a little
disconcerting because this truly becomes a different kind of
movie than what we were expecting.
It does take a little time to readjust from our action /
Sci-Fi thought process, to what is essentially a two-man play
featuring a couple of people chatting in bar, but on the
strength of the performances from Ethan Hawke and Sarah Snook,
it doesn't take long to become absorbed with what these two
are discussing.
Then movie shifts tones yet again as this odd looking little
dude in the bar begins flashbacking through his rather
odd tale, which of course has the audience… or at least
this audience member… wondering what any of this has to do
with Fizzle bombers and time travel and whatnot.
But not to worry as everything comes right back around in a
nice, relatively neat bundle. More or less. It's
the 'more or less' that's kind of mind blowing. I mean
there's no confusion in the narrative, everything that we've
seen is pretty clear and eventually it will all make sense,
but it is the kind of thing that will certainly prompt some
discussion. How could this thing that we have watched
even be possible? Of course it's not possible, not in
any way, shape or form because Time Travel itself is not
possible, but in the scope of the film… I don't know.
But is 'Predestination' a good movie? Yeah… I think
so. It is tightly directed, cleverly written, logically
illogical, and finely acted, especially by young Sarah
Snook. And it's different. That, all by itself,
almost makes it worth seeing because we don't have the chance
to say that very often.
