Predestination is beautifully filmed and acted, and that would almost make it a good movie. Almost. Truly, I found it compelling from the very first pictures, and I enjoyed the eye-and-ear-candy until the end.
Despite its extreme predictability. For a number of reasons, every trick, every bit of smoke and mirror is instantly and completely see-through, and the entire jigsaw is understood before the half-mark. All that's left is to see how it will develop in the details. I could do with predictable, but what really reduces the value of Predestination is that the story keeps kicking itself in the gonads.
That's the kind of stories we write when we are 12, and that we trash right away because they never work. Not without too many convenient extraordinary occurrences. Not without being contrived to the point of ridicule. And above all not with the human factor. Respect of chronology is not enough. Characters' actions need to make sense. Here they never do, neither the agent's, nor the Bureau's.
I still recommend to watch it once for its qualities and despite its idiocy. It may even make you dizzy if you're not used to time travel.
Despite its extreme predictability. For a number of reasons, every trick, every bit of smoke and mirror is instantly and completely see-through, and the entire jigsaw is understood before the half-mark. All that's left is to see how it will develop in the details. I could do with predictable, but what really reduces the value of Predestination is that the story keeps kicking itself in the gonads.
That's the kind of stories we write when we are 12, and that we trash right away because they never work. Not without too many convenient extraordinary occurrences. Not without being contrived to the point of ridicule. And above all not with the human factor. Respect of chronology is not enough. Characters' actions need to make sense. Here they never do, neither the agent's, nor the Bureau's.
I still recommend to watch it once for its qualities and despite its idiocy. It may even make you dizzy if you're not used to time travel.