Director(s): The Spierig Brothers
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor
Release Date: Now Available on Blu-Ray & DVD
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 9/10
Plot Summary:
The life of a time-traveling Temporal Agent. On his final assignment, he must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time.
The latest effort from The Spierig Brothers, ‘Predestination’ follows a story weaved through time. As a bartender listens to a young man recount the story of his life, a story he bets the bartender a bottle will be the best he’s every heard, an intriguing, powerful and mind-bending life story is laid out, one that details so much and yet so little at the same time, lending if anything mere hints at what is truly going on in the bigger picture of things. Yet soon enough knots begin to tie themselves together and a complex, smart and well constructed science fiction thriller is born.
Written (based on the story ‘All You Zombies’ by Robert A. Heinlein) and directed by the incredibly talented filmmaking duo of Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig, more commonly recognized as The Spierig Brothers (Daybreakers, Undead), the two have outdone themselves once again with ‘Predestination’, doing a phenomenal job at the helm and you can clearly see the continued growth of these two talented brothers represented here in their third feature length effort to date. The film also benefits significantly from the talented cast, including Ethan Hawke (who previously worked with The Spierig Brothers on their last film, the wonderful ‘Daybreakers’) along with Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor and a few more, all of whom deliver impressive performances in each of their respective roles.
‘Predestination is smart, gorgeous, well constructed and phenomenally executed; a science fiction thriller for the mind that not only forces you think and concentrate, but looks absolutely stunning along the entire way. I’m personally a huge fan of both previous films by The Spierig Brothers and I continue to be more and more impressed with each subsequent film they do; in that tradition I can easily say that I found this to be their best film yet and I can only imagine what these two just might bring us next. An exceptionally well done, mind bending thriller that I would highly recommend checking out, ‘Predestination’ is not to be missed.
VIDEO:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘Predestination’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.40:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks fantastic as a whole; wonderfully complimenting this beautifully shot and expertly constructed film. No faults or issues in the video are every noticeably present throughout and the colors, detail and every other aspect look spot-on, even the few darker sequences are always easily discernible and look great. This is an impressive high definition video presentation that should not disappoint and it definitely gets top marks.
AUDIO:
The Blu-Ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This lossless multichannel soundtrack perfectly accentuates the overall experience of ‘Predestination’ with the films score making its way throughout all of the available channels, plus natural background and (brief) action oriented effects finding their way throughout the surround channels in a number of moments, while also managing to perfectly capture and hold those quieter moments. Any dialogue occurring simultaneously to the action or score is still always more than audible and clear. As with the video, this 5.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtrack gets top marks, and while it may not be insanely active throughout the entirety of the film, it certainly performs exceptionably in every expected way.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘Predestination’ may only include a few extras, but rest assured that one of them is quite impressive and alone more than you see included on many releases these days. The most notable inclusion on the Blu-Ray release is ‘All You Zombies: Bringing Predestination To Life’ which runs approximately 76 minutes in length and serves as a full length Feature exploring in detail every aspect involved in the film’s production, from Casting, Pre-Production, Filming and all the way through until the end; this is a very impressive and worthwhile feature that should be quite a treat for fans of the film and The Spierig Brothers’ work in general, but do note that this extra is a Blu-Ray exclusive and will therefore not be included on the DVD release. Also included on the release is another short Featurette titled ‘A Journey through Time’ which runs just over 4 minutes and features interviews and more Behind the Scenes info. Lastly, we are treated to a Blooper Reel which runs just over 90 seconds long.
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.