Predestination

I don’t know where to begin. This is, without a doubt, one of the best uses of time travel I have ever seen. This is a film that will blow you away and as soon as it starts and doesn’t let go. Let’s start with the fantastic direction. It’s directed by the Spierig Brothers who have previously brought us Daybreakers, also starring Ethan Hawke. It’s easy to screw up a time travel idea, but if you take care of it well enough, you can a thrilling ride and an entertaining film. The story is told very clear and if follow along, nothing should go by you. The thing with time travel movies is that you need to establish your own rules for your world that you are creating. If you follow these rules and execute them masterfully, you can create a great time travel film. It’s really hard to explain without spoiling anything, but these guys need to make more films. The one thing I really appreciated is that the directors made characters we ultimately cared about and I felt like we went on this journey with them. From the way the story played out, to the brilliant acting, cinematography and score, the directors make an emotional journey about one’s self and ultimately making the right choices in life, even if there are things you can’t control. Ethan Hawke is amazing in just about everything he does and this is no different. He brings an extreme depth to his character and all comes together at the end of the film beautifully; but the biggest surprise was Sarah Snook. She was outstanding and really brought all the emotional depth in this film. She was so good, that she should be nominated for an Oscar. Yeah, she is that good. She also managed to bring me to tears in a few scenes and that’s always a great sign of a good actress. The cinematography leads us into a gorgeous, surreal dreamscape of many time periods and sets. Simply put, it’s just a good looking film. The pacing of this is something I haven’t seen since Whiplash. It was tight, precise and intense; this is a great roller coaster ride of emotion and character development. As mentioned above, the music added another layer to the scenes that had it providing an extra emotional pull from the heart. This film is the definition of “criminally underrated”. You need to see this. 9.5/10
(Review by Chase Lee)