Predestination (2015) Review

Predestination is quickly becoming a cult classic. Once you see it, you will see why. It is a trippy sci-fi, time-travel film that has twists that will completely blow your mind. The film’s twist is reminiscent of movies like The Sixth Sense and will completely change the way you view the movie on rewatches. I will be breaking down the twist below and describe my reaction to it. So obviously, if you haven’t seen Predestination, and don’t want to be spoiled please skip the next paragraph of this review or go watch it and come back.

SPOILERS AHEAD

So the movie starts with a man (Sarah Snook) named John telling a Barkeep (Ethan Hawke) her story about how she grew up feeling different. She tells him about how she was rejected from a space program, met a man, fell in love, was abandoned by that man, got pregnant, had the baby and discovered she had both male and female organs and when her female organs became dysfunctional in childbirth she was forced to become a man. Her baby was also stolen from the hospital nursery and never seen again. The first twist comes when the Barkeep takes John back in time to the night his younger self (Jane) met the mysterious man who got her pregnant and abandoned her so that he can kill him. We soon discover that John is that man. My mind was blown. John falls in love with his old self, Jane, and gets her pregnant. In my head I was thinking, “He had a baby with himself? Wouldn’t that baby be super messed up?” Furthermore, it is revealed that the baby that was stolen, grows up to become Jane/John, hence the multiple sex organs. Beyond that, the Barkeep is also a future version of John, whose face was distorted in an explosion. So basically, all of our main characters are the same person. This is insane. My mind was blown wide open.

SPOILERS OVER!!!

The film’s twists are set up extremely well, with the clues being there enough to make sense upon rewatches but not obvious enough to predict them. The story is interesting and creates a great time-travel universe where an agency is trying to prevent disastrous crimes from occurring. I also enjoy that they really create a paradox and bring into question which came first, the chicken or the egg. Time travel movies are hard to write because you have to really tie the different time periods together well enough to make it believable by show connections between them. Predestination does this very well and obviously has a very tight script. I could see myself catching new things I didn’t notice before upon rewatches of this film. The acting and make-up is also phenomenal and the music is reminiscent of Hans ZImmer and some of Christopher Nolan’s movie scores. The film's score is composed by Peter Spiereg, who also co-directed the film with his brother, Michael Spiereg. The Spiereg Brothers unfortunately went on to do Jigsaw and WInchester, which are disappointing horror flicks. They also directed Daybreakers which I haven't seen.

If you haven’t seen Predestination I highly recommend it. If you enjoy sci-fi, time travel, or movie twists this film is a must see. This is certainly one of the most memorable films I’ve seen this year. I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.A-

Directed by: Peter and Michael Spiereg

Starring Ethan Hawke and Sasha Snook