Parents' Guide to

Predestination

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Twisty, thoughtful time-travel tale ponders identity.

Movie R 2015 97 minutes
Predestination Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 15+

Based on 2 parent reviews

_Neo_
_Neo_ Adult
August 2, 2020
age 16+

Excellent time-travel movie

Engaging dialogue and very good acting, tight mind-bending plot. The best time-travel movie I have ever seen! One brief scene of two adults having sex, a few bad words, violence is minimal. Definitely would recommend to sci-fi fans. A complex plot which may take a couple of viewings to fully grasp it. My favorite sci-fi movie after The Matrix. Two thumbs way up!
janetm
janetm Adult
March 24, 2015
age 13+

Great Mind Warp Movie....a Time Travel Classic

There is only one scene, which I believe if they left it out this could be rated PG-13. There is some language. One scene where a man and a woman are having sex with him standing up and her on top of a desk and they are fully clothed from what i remember. After that....completely harmless. I think kids 12 and under might not understand the concepts of the movie and would probably be bored by it. It is a wonderful movie that poses the timeless question...which one comes first the chicken or the egg? Brilliant idea...a true Sci Fi great!
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What's the Story?

A mad villain known as the "Fizzle Bomber" is on the loose. A time-traveling Temporal Agent gets close to stopping him but is injured in the explosion. With some restorative surgery and a new face, he travels back to the 1970s, where he begins his search anew. Working undercover as a bartender, the agent (Ethan Hawke) meets a young man and hears an astounding story: The young man was born as a female (Sarah Snook) and was once trained to be a special agent for the Space Corps but was suddenly forced to leave. She met a man, became pregnant, and then both the man and the baby disappeared. Back in the bar, the bartender offers the young man a chance to gain his revenge. But how does it all connect to the Fizzle Bomber?

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2):
Kids say (1):

This is a mind-bending time-travel story that uses its sci-fi gimmick less for comedy or action than to explore concepts of identity. Twin filmmakers Michael and Peter Spierig, born in Germany and based in Australia, have made lightly entertaining zombie and vampire films (Undead and Daybreakers), but PREDESTINATION is something else. It will have many viewers pondering and asking existential questions for some time, though discussing things further would risk giving away the movie's secrets.

Borrowing the 1959 story "All You Zombies" by Robert A. Heinlein (also the author of Starship Troopers), the Spierig brothers fleshed out the original idea to make it more cinematic and visual -- remarkably without dumbing it down. Their direction offers plenty of atmosphere and thoughtful exchanges while still keeping cards up sleeves. The only other thing that can be said is how brilliant newcomer Snook is in her complex role, with veteran Hawke equaling her.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Predestination's violence. How necessary is it to the story? Does it seem excessive or gratuitous?

  • Are the sex scenes and references to sex necessary to the story? Why or why not?

  • What does the movie have to say about the concept of identity? Why do we do the things we do? Can we change our destiny? In what ways? Is anything in life really inevitable?

  • How does the movie view male and female gender?

Movie Details

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