“Predestination” was released in the US in 2014 and in early 2015 the film only came to Germany on DVD and not in cinemas. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why the adaptation of a short story by the visionary science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein is still an insider tip in Germany. That’s why we recommend it as a streaming tip today!
“Predestination” is available on Amazon Prime Video as VoD – and also on the Total Channel movie at no extra cost if you have a subscription. Of course the science fiction thriller is unabridged.
“Predestination”: gripping science fiction
Ethan Hawke plays a time-traveling agent for a mysterious institution that prevents attacks throughout history. But a bomber picked him up repeatedly at the last encounter and mutilated him so brutally that he needs a new look. In New York in the 1970s, we meet the cop again as a bartender. He seems to be undercover here – to really stop the killer this time? He strikes up a conversation with a lonely drinker: John (Sarah Snook) begins his fascinating life story with the words “When I was a girl…”
Robert A. Heinlein, known for the original ‘Starship Troopers’, wrote the short story ‘All You Zombies’ on which ‘Predestination’ is based in one day – in the summer of 1958. the science fiction thriller by brothers Michael and Peter Spierig (“Daybreakers”) is incredibly current – but above all sensationally fascinating.
Tension mainly due to strong characters
A quick opening makes it clear that action will take place here, but the greatest tension comes from the relationship between the characters – especially between Ethan Hawke as the bartender and Sarah Snook, who has now finally received the attention she deserves through the series. “Succession”. . The conversation, which is repeatedly interrupted by flashbacks to John’s previous life as Jane, continually raises new questions. You keep trying to put the puzzle together yourself, and there are always new twists and possibilities – right up to the last minutes.
But ‘Predestination’ isn’t one of those thrillers that only lives on the final twist. It is not only the road to it, but especially the many questions that fascinate you outside the film and even if you watch it repeatedly with knowledge of the end point, that make this film so special. It turns out to be a brilliant move not to send the audience away with a consistent, logical solution, but precisely to take the classic chicken-and-egg problem of time travel stories by the horns in all its contradictions.
The FILMSTARTS review gives it a solid 4 stars. The author of these lines was so deeply impressed and blown away by “Predestination” that he even gave it half a star more, for a total of 4.5 stars.