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#68 - Predestination
Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig, 2014
An agent for an organisation that uses time travel to correct past catastrophes is sent back to stop a terrorist but is instead side-tracked by an author he meets while undercover.
The Spierig brothers are a pair that I haven't quite got a strong opinion about. Undead may have been a star-making debut feature for the brothers, but for the most part I thought it was a pretty unremarkable attempt to make a low-budget zombie film that couldn't even be salvaged by the pair's attempt to fashion an Ash-like zombie-killing badass. Daybreakers was a fairly clever dystopian twist on the incredibly worn-out sub-genre of vampire horror, even if the end result was incredibly far from perfect. Predestination marks the duo's progression away from horror into full sci-fi, here invoking a rather familiar premise involving
Usually when a reviewer says that they don't want to divulge too many details about the plot of a film, it's so as to prevent the premature revelation of surprising developments in terms of both plot and characterisation. I also wish to refrain from doing that, at least not without spoiler tags, because of a completely different reason. Instead, I'll emphasis what this film does get right. For one thing, it looks very good. The award-winning cinematography on display is definitely a highlight and helps to stylishly convey a variety of different settings, whether it's spotless laboratories or grimy bars. Ethan Hawke is a generally decent actor and does his best as the somewhat generic protagonist, but one would argue that that's kind of the point. The real star of the show ends up being relative newcomer Sarah Snook, who gets a far more challenging and complicated role that once again would invoke spoilers if it involved going into details, but she disappears into the character so well that it was tough to recognise her at first.
Now, I'm going to put up spoiler tags and, while they don't actually spoil any events from the film, they involve discussing a certain implication on the part of the film that is virtually a spoiler so under the cut it goes...
That rather significant problem aside, Predestination manages to be a decent enough little movie. It's definitely carried by Snook, who has enough talent and range to complete one very difficult character arc - too bad it's tied to a plot that starts off with some innovation but runs out of steam halfway through.
Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig, 2014
An agent for an organisation that uses time travel to correct past catastrophes is sent back to stop a terrorist but is instead side-tracked by an author he meets while undercover.
The Spierig brothers are a pair that I haven't quite got a strong opinion about. Undead may have been a star-making debut feature for the brothers, but for the most part I thought it was a pretty unremarkable attempt to make a low-budget zombie film that couldn't even be salvaged by the pair's attempt to fashion an Ash-like zombie-killing badass. Daybreakers was a fairly clever dystopian twist on the incredibly worn-out sub-genre of vampire horror, even if the end result was incredibly far from perfect. Predestination marks the duo's progression away from horror into full sci-fi, here invoking a rather familiar premise involving
Usually when a reviewer says that they don't want to divulge too many details about the plot of a film, it's so as to prevent the premature revelation of surprising developments in terms of both plot and characterisation. I also wish to refrain from doing that, at least not without spoiler tags, because of a completely different reason. Instead, I'll emphasis what this film does get right. For one thing, it looks very good. The award-winning cinematography on display is definitely a highlight and helps to stylishly convey a variety of different settings, whether it's spotless laboratories or grimy bars. Ethan Hawke is a generally decent actor and does his best as the somewhat generic protagonist, but one would argue that that's kind of the point. The real star of the show ends up being relative newcomer Sarah Snook, who gets a far more challenging and complicated role that once again would invoke spoilers if it involved going into details, but she disappears into the character so well that it was tough to recognise her at first.
Now, I'm going to put up spoiler tags and, while they don't actually spoil any events from the film, they involve discussing a certain implication on the part of the film that is virtually a spoiler so under the cut it goes...
WARNING: "Predestination" spoilers below
The main problem with Predestination, at least to me, is that it is waaaaay too predictable. Sure, there are various surprises that come about during the extended sequence where Snook's character explains their back-story, but these surprises only serve to set up one increasingly predictable second half in the process. I know that any time-travel film is going to have its fair share of logic gaps or mind-bending moments, but this film is fairly lacking in both and as a result its big twists manage the rather impressive paradox of being both farfetched yet easily foreseeable.
That rather significant problem aside, Predestination manages to be a decent enough little movie. It's definitely carried by Snook, who has enough talent and range to complete one very difficult character arc - too bad it's tied to a plot that starts off with some innovation but runs out of steam halfway through.