No time to lose

In Time (2011)
Certified: 12
Duration: 115 minutes
Directed by: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde, Alex Pettyfer, Vincent Kartheiser, Johnny Galecki
KRS release

In Time boasts a strong concept and lots of style but no heart at all.

It is meant to be a sort of Bonnie and Clyde for the science fiction genre but lacks the courage to exploit the concept to the full and falls short.

It seems to be based on a short story, and in fact one of the sci-fi genre’s best writers, Harlan Ellison, took 20th Century Fox to court, alleging similarities with one of his short stories and won.

In fact, half way through the film, you get the feeling that the story has run its course and what had been an interesting exercise in style, is lost in the duration.

In the future, time is literally a currency. Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) does not have much of it.

In this society, the aging gene has been identified and eliminated and people stop getting older from their 25th birthday.

That is when an electronic clock implanted in your arm starts ticking and you need to get time added to your quota.

One can also take, donate, give and steal time through a sort of handshake. You can even borrow time from a bank.

Wealth is calculated by the amount of time you have and the wealthy, who can even be termed immortals, live in luxury areas cordoned off from the ghettos of the “poor”.

Will is now 28 but he is suddenly given a century of time when he meets Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer), a man who is fed up of living.

He does not manage to save his mother Rachel (Olivia Wilde) when she times out; she had tried to board a bus and the transportation system had decided to up the fee without any warning.

With this new wealth in tow, Will decides to switch to the area of the rich.

Here he meets Philippe (Vincent Kartheiser), one of the wealthiest men in the world who controls the Earth’s biggest timeshare bank.

Will had already met Philippe’s daughter, Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried), to whom he was immediately attracted.

Will kidnaps her and then convinces her to join him in a Robin Hood kind of venture.

They decide to steal time from the wealthy and give it to the poor. Meanwhile, they are pursued by the relentless Timekeeper, Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy) and mobster Fortis (Alex Pettyfer).

Amanda Seyfried is given the chance to play the vamp and she oozes class while Justin Timberlake is quite a hoot. The two fit together perfectly in this futuristic landscape; they have a sort of cold chemistry between them.

Mr Timberlake is doing quite well in his film career, while the girl from Mamma Mia is showing everyone she is growing up quite nicely. She is perfect as daddy’s spoilt little girl.

In the same manner as the recent The Adjustment Bureau, In Time depends a lot on its central premise.

The difference lies in that In Time gets tangled in its own web and in its self-grandiose approach.

Director Andrew Niccol, of the excellent Gattaca and The Truman Show fame, is too busy patting himself on the back for his brilliant concept, and fails to realise he is lacking a real story, one that goes beyond being simply another “chase” movie.

The action sequences are also tame while the characterisations are very weak and the overall plot is inconsistent.

The difference between In Time and any other B-movie is that In Time aspired and had the potential to be something great while a B-movie is aware of its limitations and thus has an increased ability to surprise.