What the Future Holds

One of the first movies released in 2015 isn't playing in many movie theaters... thanks to its simultaneous release in a number of home pay-per-view formats. It's called Predestination, and it comes with a rather distinguished pedigree.

First, it's based off a short story by Robert Heinlein entitled "All You Zombies." Second, it comes writer-director team the Spierig Brothers, among the very few people to pull off a respectably good original movie released in January -- the intriguingly different vampire film Daybreakers. Third, the Spierigs re-teamed with their star from that movie, Ethan Hawke, who has thoroughly demonstrated a taste for unusual but high-quality movies.

It's frankly hard to say much about Predestination without starting to give away elements of the plot. As minimally as I can state it: it's a science fiction story about time travel. An agent jumps around in time on the trail of the "Fizzle Bomber," a seemingly anarchic terrorist who has defied all efforts to be caught. But after a major setback, the agent embarks on a mission to recruit someone new, a man with an amazing history of his own.

More than virtually any adaptation of a famous science fiction author's work, Predestination adheres quite closely to its source material. An additional subplot is grafted onto the film, but the core of the short story is retained beat for beat, which immediately makes the film unusual among, say, the raft of Philip K. Dick-inspired movies. That's even more unusual when you consider that the plot of the story is bizarre enough that you might have easily thought no one would have dared to film it.

That the movie works at all is a credit to the two main performances. Ethan Hawke nails the film noir hero type, narrating (in a way) through a series of audio recordings as he presents the dry portrait of a man who has seen at all and is surprised by nothing. Sarah Snook seems destined for greater fame, lending amazing credibility to an incredibly demanding role at the core of the plot. She presents a tough exterior while making visible the hurt beneath, and is sympathetic throughout.

But at a certain point, it does start to feel as though the film's primary raison d'être is to surprise the audience with its ever-twisting plot. For the first twist (or perhaps two), the effect is pretty remarkable. Yet then, like a wary funhouse patron, you begin to look in every shadow, behind every curtain, trying to anticipate from where the next surprise will come. And with the central theme being time travel (and the film's title being a major clue), it's not particularly hard to guess. I watched the film as part of a small audience of five at my house, and all of us had figured out how the movie was going to end well ahead of actually getting there.

Predictable though it might be in the end, it certainly doesn't start out that way. Indeed, not enough hard sci-fi movies like this are being made -- definitely not this entertaining and featuring performances this compelling. Simply put, this ride is fun. I'd give Predestination a B+. If you're a fan of thoughtful science fiction, you should absolutely check it out.