The Gist:
A strange but intriguing conversation between two strangers in a seedy New York bar unfolds into a time travel journey panning decades as an agent for a secret government organisation attempts to stop a maniac bomber hell-bent on instigating a campaign of carnage.
The Review:
Time travel is a tricky thing to get right. Either you abandon sensibility for sensation (Back To The Future) or you stick to the rules and give your audience a headache (12 Monkeys). Predestination neatly falls into the latter camp, and let’s face it: it’s fun when a movie agitates the old grey matter in favour of spoon-feeding you a series of structured deliberations.
Undead’s Spierig brothers come at it from an unusually original angle, juggling both paradoxical anomaly and gender identity within the same fractal wormhole, weaving an amazing tale in the process.
Relative newcomer Sarah Snook puts in a fantastic performance given the demanding duality of her role, as does Ethan Hawke, and it’s a pleasure as always to have go-to psycho Noah Taylor in the mix playing their patient but wary handler in the sinister organisation that facilitates said excursions into the fabric of time.
You’ll need to concentrate, but it is well worth it. Look out for a particularly devastating sucker-punch launderette towards the end.
The Verdict:
A refreshingly profound and inventive take on a genre that lives up to its predecessors, and delivers solidly as a thriller.
Certificate: 15
Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Christopher Kirby, Noah Taylor
Running Time: 97 minutes
Release Date: 6th April 2015
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