Predestination (2014, Dir. Michael and Peter Spierig):
You could say we were born into this job.
— Ethan Hawke, Predestination
I know where I came from – but where did all you zombies come from?
— Robert Heinlein, “All You Zombies–”
It’s a kind of achievement when a film is so gonzo that for a good portion of its running time, you haven’t the foggiest idea where it’s going. Such is the case for the time-travel thriller Predestination, an Aussie import directed by the Spierig brothers, which seems to run in all directions at once. Based on the Robert A. Heinlein short story “All You Zombies–“, the narrative is all herk and jerk, and nigh impossible to get into in much detail without spilling the beans. What can be told is that Ethan Hawke is a time agent commissioned to head off crimes before they happen; undercover in dingy 1970 New York, the agent comes across a delicate, disillusioned young man named John (Sarah Snook), who proceeds to tell him the story of how he used to be a she, and how he came to be. No simple tale of transgender woe here: instead we get a clandestine government agency masquerading as recruiters of prostitutes for the U.S. space program, hermaphroditic surprises, a Royal typewriter and an “unmarried mother” column for a trashy magazine that take on major significance, a set of revolvers, a violin case that opens up time portals, and a pretzel of paradoxes that only ravel tighter late in the game. And naturally, there’s a cataclysmic event the agent must prevent, just to maintain the appearance of an action flick.
Is all this believable for one moment, you may wonder. No, it is not, and it doesn’t necessarily matter. Fable-like in its intent, Predestination has a pleasing simplicity to the presentation. Time travel isn’t a special effects lightshow but a demure little pop. A conversation between two characters at different points in time holds more sway than the ticking counter on a bomb. Revelations sidle up to us instead of exploding in our faces. Hawke may be the headlining star, but he’s content to lay back and cede the spotlight to Snook, who doesn’t have a character to play as much as several scattered states of being (to say more would be giving away the game). “I have no intention of being a tourist,” s/he says early on; the tragic truth of that statement, along with Snook’s edgy performance, propel us through the head-spinning pirouettes of the narrative. For those who pick apart the logic of every time travel story, this is the fin de siècle of the genre, where the image of a snake eating its own tail is not only appropriate but also spells out the plot’s twists — whether you buy it or not, you have to appreciate the filmmakers’ cojones in tackling Heinlein’s impossible conceit head-on.
“Our first mission is as important as our last, each getting us closer to our final destination.”
Elegant, Predestination is not: while it’s satisfying to see all the dominoes fall as the dangling loose ends are wrapped up, the conjunction of thriller mechanics with John’s picaresque personal journey doesn’t make for the easiest mix. (It’s no surprise that Heinlein’s original story lacked the “ticking time bomb” element.) Most will probably have the final reveals figured out 20 minutes before the conclusion; it’s far simpler to spring a surprise in a short story than it is in a film, which must draw out each innuendo and clue. Still, Predestination marks a clear improvement over the Spierig brothers’ previous feature Daybreakers (2010), which brought a bit of intelligence to the vampire genre but failed to inject much surprise. In those moments where we’re locked in on Snook and her strange tale in Predestination, we’re confronted with something altogether different: something fanciful, stirring, and even — dare we say it? — cosmic in its implications.
