In Time (20th Century)
Rated PG-13 for violence, some sexualty and partial nudity, and strong language.
Starring Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Olivia Wilde, Johnny Galecki, Matt Bomer, Vincent Kartheiser, Elena Satine, Alex Pettyfer, Cillian Murphy.
Written and directed by Andrew Niccol.
GRADE: C
REVIEW:
I'll try and keep this review short, because I don't want to waste much of your time.
In Time is the story of Will Salas (Justin Timberlake), a young man (25 + 3 years old) living in a retro-futuristic world where the only currency is time. Every person in this world has a clock that expires when they are 25, unless they can earn, borrow or steal more time from others. Wealthy people have clocks that read in the centuries or millennia. Poor people, like Will, are forced to work odd jobs, perform manual labor, take out high interest loans and other activities to stay alive. The good news is every body stays young and attractive in appearance. Will's mother (Olivia Wilde) is actually 50 years old, but looks every bit as much as her beautiful 20-something self. Poor people are also forced to live in slums, or time zones where they pay for goods and services in hours, minutes, months and years. They are also restricted from nicer time zones through inflated prices.
One night, Will encounters a 104-year-old man who is tired of living and gives him all his 100+ years before expiring (people can give or take time from each other by holding hands). The "timekeeper" police force detects this shift in time, and begins to track Will, who moves quickly to the upscale "Greenwich" time zone, where he meets and gambles with billionaire named Weis (Vincent Kartheiser). Weis' beautiful, spoiled daughter Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried) is attracted to Will, who kidnaps her when the timekeepers arrive to arrest him.
Will and Sylvia go on the lam, but are robbed of all their time by a group of thugs called "minutemen," led by a 75-year-old named Fortis (Alex Pettyfer). As Will and Sylvia evade the cops, led by Timekeeper Leon (Cillian Murphy), they enter into a life of crime, breaking into time banks and distributing the years among the poor masses of Will's slum neighborhood.
The massive flow of time among the poor threatens to disrupt the economy of world, and chaos is imminent until Will and Sylvia plan a big heist of her father's millions of years in reserve. Will they succeed?
Actually, I don't care.
In Time is an obvious attempt at portraying some kind of ham-fisted metaphor for the redistribution of wealth, certainly applicable in a time when several people are occupying Wall Street to protest against the rich and powerful. While it may be argued that time is money, the chasm between In Time's metaphor and the real world economy is wider than the Grand Canyon. I understand that underprivileged people need cash to survive, but 25-year-olds aren't exactly expiring directly because of rich people.
The Marxist message isn't the only problem with In Time. It's also very boring and often silly in its delivery. Timberlake is not exactly ready for leading man in an action film, (although it's obvious he can act) and there really isn't much chemistry between the former boy band singer and Seyfried. The Sepia-toned photography in the movie got old pretty fast, and the overall depressing mood made In Time not much worth the 109 minutes it takes to see it.
I want my 109 minutes back.
