Movie Review – Predestination

The film opens to a mysterious man in a fedora hat and trench coat disarming an explosive device built by “The Fizzle Bomber,” a criminal responsible for the death of thousands…in the future. However, the semi-failed attempt to disarm the bomb leaves the man horribly disfigured, or in this case, looking like Ethan Hawke. Reuniting with the Spierig’s, Hawke plays a Temporal Agent who prevents future crimes from occurring. His investigation leads him to a peculiar man in a bar, known to us by his pen name, “The Unmarried Mother.” The Temporal Agent, disguised as the bar’s tender, wagers his bottle of whiskey against the Unmarried Mother’s (Sarah Snook) promise of the strangest story he will ever hear. How this helps the agent bring the Fizzle Bomber to justice is best left to the viewer to discover. So I’ll end my synopsis here, for fear of spoiling the film’s numerous plot twists.

Newcomer Sarah Snook gives an exceptional performance across a range of personalities. Ethan Hawke delivers as well, but it is Snook’s somber demeanor and journey to grapple her existence that grabbed and held my attention for the movies 97 minute runtime. The movie becomes a bit more clunky in the later minutes, but nonetheless concludes with a mind-warping, satisfactory twist.

There are some strange themes in which Predestination presents to the viewer, and time travel movies can be confusing altogether, but the Spierig’s bring it together effectively as enjoyable genre fare.