Without thinking too much about the physical or philosophical implications, the story alone is fascinating enough. The protagonist travels through time and space and finds that everything is just the self without history and concern, which comes from himself and ends with himself.
From birth to death, Jane/John's age is increasing, her memory is never lost, her/his life is a complete single line, but the time of experience is different from ours. We might as well follow the trajectory of his/her life and reorganize it:
In 1964, Jane was born from her womb, and was soon "stolen" by her future self, John after plastic surgery. Back in 1945, she was placed on the steps of the orphanage. The orphan Jane was adopted and felt that she was gifted ( intellectually and physically) but unpopular and began to hate himself. Jane, a young girl, was discovered by Robertson to participate in the training of the space program, but was found to have abnormal body structure (intersex) and was eliminated. After that, she worked as a nanny and attended night school at the same time. On a rainy night (1963.4.3), she met the self before the disfigurement in the future, fell in love, and became pregnant successfully. Her lover suddenly left, Jane gave birth to herself, her heart was full of hatred, and because of postpartum hemorrhage, her female organs were removed, and she became John after plastic surgery. Young John worked as a cook and eventually found a gift for writing, becoming a columnist. One day young John (1970.11. 6) Met a new bartender at the bar - middle-aged self after plastic surgery, told about his life experience, was taken to the basement by the bartender, traveled through time and space to that rainy night in 1963, wanted to get rid of the "heartless man" , but found that the person was himself. The young John fell in love with himself who was still Jane, and planted a seed in Jane's body. The young John who learned the truth left Jane and followed the future middle-aged John to 1985. He became a special agent under Mr. Robertson, traveled through time and space to start the battle with the "Bomber", and made extraordinary achievements. On March 2, 1970, John heard the sound of gunshots during the demolition of the bomb. Although he defused the bomb, he was injured and disfigured by the "bomber". At a critical moment, a mysterious man (middle-aged John after plastic surgery) will The machine kicked back to itself, and came 1992. After plastic surgery, John turned into an appearance that he didn't even recognize himself, and returned to the task. Middle-aged John's new task is to go back to 1970. On the night of November 6th, he met a young John who came to a bar for consumption. After listening to him tell about his life, he took his young self back to that rainy night in 1963. Taking advantage of the young John and Jane falling in love, the middle-aged John traveled to 1964, stole his newborn self, and sent him to the orphanage in 1945. The middle-aged John then came to March 2, 1970, the day when the young John was disfigured. He had a shootout and fight with the bomber, the old John, but he lost. John kicked the time machine back to his injured self. Through the time machine, the middle-aged John found the young John and took him to report to Mr. Robertson in 1985. This is also the last task of middle-aged John. After completion, he returned to the bar in 1970 and resigned, traveled to his home on January 7, 1975, set the time machine to "retire", and prepared to live the rest of his life. The time machine didn't stop working, however, and with some clues from Mr. Robertson (purchase orders, timer fragments, etc.), he found the old "bomber" himself in a laundry room and shot him. Due to the damage caused by constantly traveling through time and space, and through ideological struggles and complex experiences that are not carefully explained in the film, middle-aged John has become a "bomber", using the time machine that has not yet expired to frequently commit crimes. On March 2, 1970, the old John set a bomb, which was discovered by the middle-aged John. The explosive device has been dismantled, so the old John destroys the young John. Old John, who was preparing for the Big Bang in New York, was found by his middle-aged self in the laundry room and shot to death, ending his meaningless life.
There are two most critical times: one is from the time young John was brought by the middle-aged John to meet Jane in 1963, until the young John left Jane and followed the middle-aged John back to 1985; the other was in 1970, when the middle-aged John was beaten by the old John. Halo, seeing young John disfigured, help him go to 1992. During these two periods, three different stages of the protagonist coexist and collide with each other.
Jane/John's life has its ups and downs, and although it is very different from the ordinary timeline, it tells the truth: our existence may really have no meaning or purpose.
View more about Predestination reviews
