Every few years we get a time travel movie. The last one of any note (that I can remember, at least) was Looper, which starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a man who ends up having to assassinate himself in the future. Now Ethan Hawke is taking a swing at the same subgenre with his role in Predestination.
The film features Hawke as a Temporal Agent – that is, the kind of law enforcement official who prevents crimes before they happen. He’s sent on a series of time-traveling journeys to ensure that his career carries on infinitely into the future. Now on his final assignment, he searches for the criminal that has escaped him throughout time.
The first trailer for Predestination shows us a good bit of time-jumping and tries most manfully to set up the premise of the film without giving the game away. There’s a lot of semi-recognizable time-travel mumbo jumbo, which comes down to implying that anything we see or don’t see might be subject for revision later on. In essence, the trailer has the appearance of Looper and some of the premise of Minority Report without making itself particularly distinct. I think I can make a safe guess about the identity of the elusive criminal that Hawke’s character pursues, but you can decide what you think.
Predestination is the latest directorial effort from Michael and Peter Spierig, who also worked with Hawke on Daybreakers. While that one received only a middling response, perhaps they can pull off something a bit more worthwhile with Predestination. Included in the primarily Australian cast are Sarah Snook and Noah Taylor, the former featuring largely featured in this trailer.
Predestination premiered at the SXSW Film Festival back in March, but as yet has no U.S. release date. While we’re waiting on that, you can check out the latest trailer below, along with some images and a poster for the film.
