10 Dystopian Sci-Fi Films Where The State Wins
9. Predestination (2014)
Based on Robert A Heinlein's 1959 short story "—All You Zombies—" the Spierig brothers’ Predestination sends an unnamed agent (Ethan Hawke) of the US Temporal Bureau on a mission to 1975 to prevent a bomb attack in NYC. But things aren't so simple as a spot of time travel, the snip of a wire and home for tea.
The agent fails to apprehend the so-called Fizzle Bomber, or foil the terrorist's plans, leaving him free to strike again. The Bureau force his imminent retirement, but not before he is sent on one final mission back to 1970.What follows are a series of narrative loop de loops that use time travel, the agent's physical changes and his fracturing psyche to send him on a wild goose chase across the years. He meets John/Jane (Sarah Snook), a transgender columnist who was similarly recruited to work for the government, and who the agent sends back in time to impregnate him/herself, before taking their baby back in time to become John/Jane themselves...
But that's not all. This whole time, the agent has unknowingly danced to his handler, Mr Robertson's (Noah Taylor) tune. Becausthe agent, Jane, John, their baby and the Fizzle Bomber are all the same person. And the Bureau manufactured them to provide a public imperative motivating the organisation's growth and success. Thus, when the agent kills the bomber, it's all part of the bigger plan.