This movie will leave you thinking, and has the potential to blow your mind in a Matrix-like way. In an alternate reality where time travel was invented in the early 80’s, Predestination stars Ethan Hawke as a time-jumping cop. The film is based on a short story by Robert A Heinlein, an author I read much of when I was first getting in to sci-fi, as many did.
The protagonist’s group jumps to places in the past and future to stop major crimes from taking place. The film is mostly about his hunting of a serial bomber nicknamed the Fizzle Bomber. Unfortunately the bomber is aware of the time cops in some way, because he keeps changing the day he sets off his big blast that kills thousands, thus not giving the cops a consistent specific day or time to stop him, only knowing it will happen sometime in March 1975. Ethan goes back to play as a bartender in 1970 on a lead. One night, in walks Jane, who tells him a fantastical tale.
I really can’t give much more than that without giving away crucial story elements, and I do like to keep my movie reviews spoiler-free. This film has elements of science-fiction obviously, but also is at its heart a mystery. You don’t know who is who or who is on who’s side, and just when you think you have started to figure it out, the movie flips it on you in the latter third. Unfortunately it lets loose a big surprise a little early in my opinion, you guess the final climax before it actually happens. That being said, it is one of most thought-provoking films I’ve seen in a bit, and puts forth the question if we have control of our lives, or if everything is preordained.
Jons Movie Takes 