In Time

I really wanted to like this movie, because of the concept and because I like both lead actors, but unfortunately it’s a letdown.

Synopsis: Justin Timberlake plays a guy who decides to take on the system when he finally cannot abide by the injustices and restrictions the rich and powerful put on the poor and the working class.  He’ll be aided in his quest by an unlikely ally.

The cool concept I mentioned is this: many years in the future human biology has been altered because of overcrowding and economics.  Humans age normally for the first 25 years, after which the aging process stops altogether.  At that point, however, a digital clock embedded in everyone’s forearm starts counting down the last year one’s allowed to live.  When the count reaches zero, he dies from cardiac arrest.  Time has literally replaced money and can be bought and sold.  As with money, the poor have little and the rich have tons.

Doesn’t that sound like a great idea for a movie?  Unfortunately, about halfway through, the whole structure starts weakening.  I can’t blame Timberlake, who does a good job and is really coming into his own as an actor, or Amanda Seyfried, who’s a good actress but here strains to make her character feel real.  And the always good Cillian Murphy also struggles to make us believe in his morally righteous time-cop.

Ultimately, and sadly, the blame falls on the screenplay by writer-director Andrew Niccol, whose previous work includes the very enjoyable S1m0ne, the brilliant The Truman Show, and one of my all-time-favorites, Gattaca.  The script turns out to be too predictable in the end, and that causes a lot of the suspense to vaporize.

The Bottom Line: a great concept and good actors cannot save this movie from ultimately feeling as soft and deflated as a week old balloon.  In spite of that, it’s still enjoyable, thanks to the many action sequences and plot twists, and it will make you think, not particularly about the movie itself but about what it would mean to live in such a dystopian world.

Grade: 6