Predestination
A temporal law-enforcement agent hunts a bomber across history while confronting an impossible chain of identity, fate, and self-creation.
Overview
A time-traveling agent embarks on a mission that could alter the course of history forever.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Labyrinthine
- Violence
- Moderate
- cerebral
- twisty
- paranoid
- late night viewing
- mind bending movie night
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film intelligent, imaginative, emotionally affecting, and unusually inventive for a time-travel thriller, while noting that its increasingly elaborate twists strain narrative logic.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The Temporal Agent's investigation repeatedly loops through connected versions of the same life and mission.
The Unmarried Mother's life, the Agent's career, and gendered self-understanding are tightly interwoven.
The bartender's encounters, secret agency, bomber investigation, and fatalistic atmosphere combine noir suspense with time travel.
Time machines, agency operations, and temporal missions are staged through shifting historical environments rather than a purely futuristic world.
Films like Predestination, and why
Looper
intricate time travel, identity puzzles, and a cerebral thriller structure
12 Monkeys
paranoid science fiction suspense built around recursive causality and altered identity
Dark City
mind-bending chronology, noir atmosphere, and a protagonist trapped by temporal logic
The Jacket
philosophical science fiction focused on personal identity, fate, and causality
Movie Details
- Directors
- Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
- Release Date
- 2014-08-28
- Runtime
- 98 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (7353)
Cast
- Ethan Hawke
- Sarah Snook
- Noah Taylor
- Christopher Kirby
- Madeleine West
- Jim Knobeloch
- Freya Stafford
- Elise Jansen
- Tyler Coppin
- Christopher Stollery
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Predestination about?
- A temporal law-enforcement agent hunts a bomber across history while confronting an impossible chain of identity, fate, and self-creation.
- What is Predestination like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Predestination as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as labyrinthine.
- Is Predestination violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Predestination as moderate.
- What did critics think of Predestination?
- Critics broadly found the film intelligent, imaginative, emotionally affecting, and unusually inventive for a time-travel thriller, while noting that its increasingly elaborate twists strain narrative logic.
- Which films are like Predestination?
- Films with a similar feel include Looper, 12 Monkeys, Dark City, and The Jacket.
- How long is Predestination?
- Predestination runs 98 minutes.
- Where can I watch Predestination?
- In United States, Predestination streams on Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel.
