Almost all movies and shows will include some exposition scene, even those with complete mastery of the film or TV medium like Coen brothers and David Chase will occasionally include a scene that has no relevance other than to advance some aspect of the plot. However, half-way through Predestination you realise that the movie is just one big long exposition scene. And the vessel through which they convey this story is at best, poor, at worst, incredibly contrived: Woman walks into a bar and says to barman "I have a really good story to tell you," barman says "that's interesting, please tell." From then on almost the entire plot is driven from narration. To quote Brian Cox in Adaptation, "God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing." And sadly this movie is a prime example.

The writers also got a little carried away with the plot-twists. They are 4 major plot twists, and by the fourth, they are really flogging a dead horse. And plot revelations become increasingly more banal and contrived. The writers also leave no room for interpretation or for the viewer to come to the conclusion themselves. This move is as subtle as a block-splitter.

Don't get me wrong, the story is inventive, and certainly brings a new twist to the clichéd and overused, "man goes back in time to change the past and right some wrong" storyline. However by the end of the film I didn't feel the audio-visual experience delivered anything extra than reading the script would have.