Predestination – Movie Review

Predestination
Directed by The Spierig Brothers
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor
January 2015
Reviewed by Wayne C. Rogers

First, let me say that I’m giving this a 5-star rating for its thought-provoking premise, not because it’s equal to Lawrence of Arabia or Out of Africa or To Kill a Mockingbird. This movie, if you stay with it till the end, will have you questioning everything you think is true about life and your journey through it.

Now, this is how I ended up watching Predestination with Ethan Hawke and Sarah Snook: several months ago a friend of mine at work recommended that I watch the film. She felt it might be right up my alley, and that I would understand what was happening. She didn’t. I had recommended Cloud Atlas to her, and she hadn’t liked that film either. Now, it was my turn with Predestination. I purchased it from Amazon, and then it sat in my “to-be-watched” stack for a few months. I finally pulled it out and watched the film, wondering if I would enjoy it and how I would feel about its storyline afterwards.

I have to say this film turned out to be a wonderful surprise, and that it blew me right out of my white bobby socks. Don’t ask me if I understood everything that was going on because I didn’t, though in a way I think I did. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. I have a fascination with movies about time travel (The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Lake House, Somewhere in Time, Looper, etc.) and thought there was a good chance I’d like this.

I did.

Ethan Hawke plays the Barkeeper, who’s also a Temporal Agent. He works for a government agency that’s led by Noah Taylor’s character and travels back in time to change the course of events and to prevent tragic deaths. Hawke’s character relentlessly attempts to prevent the Fizzle Bomber from achieving his massive destruction on a grand scale. During one of his visits to a different time period, the Barkeeper meets the Unmarried Woman, who is played by Sarah Snook. Sarah pretty much steals the movie with her unbelievable acting ability and how she portrays two of the main characters in the film.

You see, while sitting at the bar conversing with Ethan Hawke’s character, she’s a man, but actually started off life as a female.

Confused?

Sarah’s parents supposedly gave her up for adoption, leaving her in a box on the steps of the orphanage. As she (Jane) grew into a young beautiful woman who was astounding in her intellect, she remained a loner, but also a scraper who was more than willing to defend herself against men and women in a fight. One night she bumps into the man who becomes her soul mate in a short period of time and then he mysteriously disappears, leaving her abandoned and pregnant. When surgery has to be done to save the baby, the doctors discover that Jane’s a hermaphrodite and remove the female sexual organs from her body, turning her into a man for better or worse.

Of course, the Unmarried Woman blames her soul mate for her condition and what transpires, but everything is not what it seems.

The Barkeeper appears to be the only who knows what’s really going on.

There is one scene in which Ethan Hawke is talking to Noah Taylor’s character and mentions the serpent swallowing its tail. This is symbol from ancient history, representing the duality of existence and eternity. What is later discovered by the viewing audience will leave you breathless and thinking about the film for days. Needless to say, life is a paradox and by changing one thing in the past, everything in the future can be affected.

This is the type of film that’s difficult to understand and follow, but I guarantee there are huge rewards for those who are able to grasp its meaning. Many will not like the movie or understand it enough to give the film a chance. Let me just say that both the late Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking believe in time travel and that it’s indeed possible. But, what would be the results of time travel were a person to go back and change certain things? How would the future be affected by this and what would be different about it? If Hitler had been assassinated during the thirties by someone from the future, would the baby boomers be here now?

In the behind the scenes feature, the three major actors discuss why they took their roles in this amazing film. It boils down to the fact that no one had an answer to the questions mentioned above. This allowed each actor to have a certain amount of freedom in how they chose to portray their characters.

Of course, it was Sarah Snook who played both a woman and a man, which was challenging to say the least. It was necessary for her to learn the mannerisms of being a man and how to speak and move like one. She really should’ve been nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress for her performance. This isn’t to take away from Ethan Hawke’s performance, or that of Noah Taylor. It’s just that Sarah Snook definitely shined in her role and made the viewer believe in her tale of woe.

Considering the budget for Predestination was a low one, everyone had to come up with ideas on how to achieve a certain effect or perform in a particular manner that would drive the storyline forward. The cast and crew did a magnificent job in turning Robert Heinlein’s short story into a serious thought-provoking film that clearly questions morality, time travel, love, and who we are as human beings, not to mention the journey each of us is on.

Filmed and scored to perfection, Predestination is a winner in my book. This film was designed to make the audience think and to experience strong emotions for its main characters. It definitely succeeded in this endeavor. The whole film was balanced by the acting of Sarah Snook. It was her job to make you believe in her character. If that hadn’t worked the movie would’ve been a failure. As it was, she rose to the occasion and proved what a gifted performer she is at this stage of her career.

And let’s not forget Ethan Hawke. His performances are always impeccable and because of that, the other actors have to rise up to his level.

If you’re a fan of films that deal with time travel and subjects that will trigger your mind into overtime, I recommend this movie for you. This film also shows what can be done on a small budget by studios and that $200,000,000 tent-pole movies are not necessary in order to make something that’s entertaining and will the engage the audience.