Time is something we experience as something which just flow over us, a one-way stream we can’t influence ata ll. We can move in space freely, but it is impossible to step back 10 minutes. Of course literature and movies have invented the time machine for that, which allows for various adventures. Often changes made in the past change the future resulting in a new timeline.
But what if that isn’t the case? What if everything we experience can’t be influenced at all? A world in which everything, including our choices and movements (including those by using a time machine) are all set in stone? Free will would not exist and our lives would be like a movie which you can start endlessly, always playing the same way. A question like “who was first: the chicken or the egg?” irrelevant. They just are at a specific moment in time and don’t need explaining. Predestination uses this concept for a very fascinating film.
Ethan Hawke is a “Temporal Agent”, a time traveller who has been trying to hunt down a mysterious terrorist for a long time. His travels give him clues which he hopes can help him unmask the person responsible for killing many people. When he meets someone in a bar who tells him an unbelievable life story he knows that this person might be able to help him reach his goal.
Predestiation is one of those movies that’s best to watch without knowing much about it. Hawke is a very experienced actor and plays the role with ease. It is Sarah Snook however who really grabs the spotligh showing her acting chops. The end result is an interesting movie which takes the viewer into a story that tells the story about predestination in an interesting way. It might not be a masterpiece, but one that will make you think, even if it is just for a moment.
