Predestination

Predestination

• Director: The Spierig Brothers
• Based on the story by Robert Heinlein
• Cast: Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ethan Hawke – Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Cymbeline, Before Midnight, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Tape, Hamlet, Snow Falling on Cedars, Gattaca, Reality Bites, Waterland, Dead Poets Society
• Sarah Snook – These Final Hours
• Why?  Sci fi. Ethan Hawke
• Seen:  16 August 2019 

In the 70’s the Fizzle Bomber is killing thousands in New York. A time travelling agent in the future (Hawke) is given the mission to go back in time to stop the bomber. He fails in mission after mission. Now it’s his last chance because he is losing psychological stability.

Working as a barkeep in the 70’s he meets a mysterious young man – who is actually a woman – who tells of growing up in an orphanage, a violent but very smart outsider. As a young woman she is recruited by a secret government agency to be a high-class hooker to astronauts. She fails the training. A love affair leads to pregnancy which leads to the discovery that she is more male than female.

The story gradually pulls together but it’s very convoluted, not to say totally confusing, but it is fascinating and intelligent. It’s a worthy attempt at time travel drama but not fully successful at realising its potential.

3 * of 5