As a genre, science fiction can be either brilliant or excruciatingly dated, and there is often very little way for us to predict in which direction a particular work will veer, since essentially it’s a genre that depends entirely on speculation, and while there are some that tend to be more steeped in reality than others, its generally not clear where a specific work will fall until we have gotten a chance to view it from a distance. We often find that the best science fiction works are not those that aim to be accurate in predicting the future, but rather the ones that take an ambitious concept and do something valuable with it, which is how we get some of the most insightful entries in the genre. A decade ago, Predestination was released – directed by rookie filmmakers Peter and Michael Spierig, who were known for some solid but underseen work in their native Australia, and based on a 1959 short story entitled “All You Zombies” by Robert A. Heinlein, the film offered something quite different in terms of both storyline and scope and as a result, no one knew quite what to do with it, outside of trying to determine exactly what was being done with this particular film. Telling the story of a secret government agency that recruits individuals to travel backwards and forwards in time to prevent major disasters, the film tackles many fascinating themes that relate to a wide range of subjects that immediately situates this as one of the more inventive and intriguing entries into a genre that is constantly striving to find new ways to look at reality, or at least present a version of it that is not only entertaining but also profoundly intriguing and thought-provoking. This is all done quite effectively in Predestination, a film that has been mainly ignored despite meeting every criteria necessary to be viewed as a remarkable work of speculative fiction, and even exceeding our expectations in many cases, making this a film ripe for rediscovery.

For decades, there has been an attempt to reconcile physics and philosophy, which have remained contentious bedfellows, the general belief being that someone can’t adhere to both of them and that a choice between logic and abstraction needs to be made. We know that this is not the case and that there is merit in looking at them both in tandem, even if this can only complicate our understanding of some fundamental subjects. Heinlein has often been cited as being one of the most influential science fiction writers, and his background in both the sciences and military made his work a lot more compelling, knowing that a lot of these ideas come from firsthand knowledge of some truly complex subjects. The concept of time travel has been discussed for about as long as we have been aware of the progress of time, and as far as we know, no one has ever managed to achieve anything that could be even slightly substantial in terms of proving that the space-time continuum can be manipulated in any way. However, it’s a subject that remains quite popular, since not only is it universally resonant, but it opens the door for some fascinating works of speculation, particularly for those who appreciate the more scientific aspects of the genre, since it almost always becomes a matter of working with the broader laws of physics to establish a storyline. However, this is only half of what makes Predestination such an intriguing film, since the source material, as well as the directors’ adaptation of it, is equally as focused on the philosophical side, and for many viewers who are not well-versed in the more scientific side of the conversation, we’ll likely be drawn to the more abstract side of the discussion, which is perfectly encapsulated in this film, which proves to be a lot more engaging when the two seemingly disparate themes come together to form quite a captivating account of time travel, shown in a way that is singularly unique and quite unconventional, even for such a broad genre.

For a film like Predestination, getting to the core of the story is a marathon rather than a sprint, and the directors are aware that they have the potential to do something quite different, and the material from which they were working was certainly interesting enough for them to go in a different direction, both narratively and in terms of how the story is examined. The directors were intent on making something that was a lot more intelligent and subversive than a lot of mainstream science fiction, which often tended to spend too much time offering explanations for their premises, which is certainly not the case here, as the focus is less on trying to explain how this technology works, and instead plunging us into a deeply unnerving, labyrinthine narrative that doesn’t contain any answers, and is filled to the brim with intentional paradoxes that only become more complicated the further we weave our way into the heart of the story. It’s also the rare example of a science fiction film that doubles as a period piece, with the events leaping between the 1940s and 1980s, being restricted to the mid-century period, and thus removing the theme of futurism that is often used as a scapegoat to explain this advanced technology. Instead, the emphasis is on creating the illusion that not only is this technology real, but that it has existed for longer than many of us have been alive, and there’s something about this kind of alternative history that feels genuinely quite interesting, even when it comes across as decidedly more complex than it perhaps ought to have been – but this is the risk taken when setting out to make a more cerebral kind of science fiction. We’d be foolish to suggest that the plot of Predestination is ironclad, and it is clear that there are logical inconsistencies that populate the film – but the intention was never to make a film that was perfect in terms of how it approaches the science or philosophy, but rather offering a unique perspective that is both entertaining and captures our imagination, and while the fallacies can be spotted if we analyse it closely enough, they barely influence our experience with the film, which is a lot more engaging than we may have initially anticipated.

Many elements differentiate Predestination from many other science fiction films, and one of the most intriguing is that this is essentially a two-hander, rather than having a sprawling ensemble of characters, the choice was to restrict it to the two leads for the majority of the film, with a few peripheral characters appearing on the outskirts when it is necessary. Considering the revelation we receive in the final moments of the film, choosing to focus on these two characters was a shrewd but brilliant decision, especially since this is a film that genuinely seemed to care about how it develops its characters beyond being one-dimensional genre-based archetypes. Credit has to be given to both Ethan Hawke and Sarah Snook, who delivered two of the most complex and engaging performances in contemporary science fiction. Hawke, whose career speaks for itself, has had many forays with genre films but has mostly chosen those that are slightly less conventional, usually being focused on the characters and what they represent more than overly ambitious premises that can’t deliver on their promises for the most part. He is once again superb, playing the unnamed protagonist with a combination of complexity and emotional resonance, finding the humanity in quite an ambigious character. Snook, who has emerged as one of the most talented actors working today, was still mostly unknown at the time in which this film was made, and she is an absolute revelation – she plays the ambigious secondary protagonist in such a way that emphasizes their strange, off-kilter identity, and the fluidity with which he moves between gender expression is extraordinary. There hasn’t been much talk about this film as a piece of queer-coded science fiction, but it explicitly examines a lot of these concepts, particularly through the two central performances, and the leads are extraordinary when it comes to juggling not only the dense science fiction aspects but also the more deeply personal, resonant ideas that elevate the film and help it develop into something much more complex.

A decade later, Predestination has aged quite well, and while it is a substantially smaller effort in terms of the kind of story being told and the specific themes being investigated, it still contains enough merit to warrant our attention. Science fiction is a popular genre, but it’s still one that can be quite divisive, especially when we find the emphasis being on high-concept storytelling that aims to provoke thought a lot more than it intends to be mindless entertainment. You simply cannot passively watch a film like this, since there are too many bold ideas swirling around for us to not actively engage with the themes being presented throughout. It is a very economical film, running at a mere 97 minutes, and therefore there isn’t much room for unnecessary exposition or discussions that don’t serve a direct purpose – this gives it the distinctly complex, off-the-wall tone that is vitally important to the identity of the story, and how it develops on a number of its fundamental ideas is incredible. It also helps that there is equal attention paid to the development of the characters as there is to the storytelling, and the elegant manner in which it interrogates several ideas pushes the material to be a lot more enthralling than we may have expected. There are many aspects of Predestination that could have derailed it and made it an unnecessarily dense work that failed in its attempts to be different from a lot of films being produced at the same time – but yet, everything works out exceptionally well, and strong performances, unique directorial vision and intriguing narrative details all coalesce into this remarkably entertaining and provocative philosophical science fiction odyssey that proves to be much more bespoke than we may have anticipated based on a glance at the start.