In Time

Release date: October 28, 2011
Director: Andrew Niccol
Screenplay by: Andrew Niccol
Cast: Justin  Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Vincent Kartheiser, Olivia Wilde, Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Johnny Galecki

In Time showcases a world in which the aging gene is stopped at 25 and time is literally money. Need to make a phone call from a telephone booth? 1 minute of your time. Want to drink a cup of coffee? Only 4 minutes. How about a meal? That will cost you 30 minutes of your time.

But what if you run out of time? You die.

While the rich folks got plenty of time to live, the poor people living in the ghettos have to work everyday to earn enough time to live and pay for their everyday necessities. Such is life for Will (Timberlake) and his mom (Wilde), who both work their asses off every single day just to make sure they continue to exist.

In Time comes across as a retro-futuristic version of Robin Hood at first thanks to Will’s characterization throughout the film as he changes from the average poor guy to a man set to screw with the system thanks to a lucky encounter with a man (Bomer) he met at a bar, receiving 100 years as a gift. Later on, the film taps into Bonnie and Clyde mode once Will meets Sylvia (Seyfried), a rich girl who seems pretty bored with her life despite all her commodities.

Justin Timberlake actually does a good job in playing the lead role and makes you care for his character. However, his chemistry with Amanda Seyfried wasn’t good thanks to Seyfried looking very uninterested and going through the motions on almost every scene, hurting the film in the process.

There’s no denying that the premise of In Time sounds very fascinating and thought-provoking in terms of exploring social issues such as economy, morality and overpopulation in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t live up to its full potential and leaves some ideas incompletely addressed and even characters like the Timekeeper (Murphy), Sylvia’s father (Kartheiser) and Will’s father not fully explored.

And yes, there’s the inevitable overuse of the word “time”, which may feel cliché and unintentionally funny during moments. But you had to expect that going into this film anyways.

Despite what I said, In Time can be enjoyable to watch thanks to its premise, the cast it boasts and the action scenes it presents. But I wished its execution could have been a lot better- under the right direction and scripting, In Time could have been at least a 4-star film in theory.

Rating: ★★¾☆☆ 

Rodrigo

YAM Magazine contributor, has a B. Sc. degree in Science/Pharmacy and is a very lazy person.

10 Responses

  1. amy says:

    The first thing that threw me off in this review was……….. Olivia Wilde being Justin Timberlake’s mom LOL, then I was “oh, wait. Time stops at 25” Then I read Timberlake does good, and I just… no. LOL xD

    I’m gonna have to watch this… and I’m gonna be hard on him. And that’s not gonna be hard in a good way.

    Does this work as an action film? Since IMDb is labeling that way… just wondering if I should take my dad see it xD

    • Rodrigo says:

      @amy, It’s not like Timberlake did a shitty performance here. I thought he was good enough. You just want him back on the music field and I can see why. But that could come at the price of seeing him work with Justin Bieber and other weaker acts of the sort.

      On the other hand, I thought Amanda Seyfried was dull as fuck. But I’ll forgive Seyfried if she puts out a sex tape, lol.

      It can work as an action film halfway through, but it’s more on the sci-fi/thriller scale.

      • amy says:

        @Rodrigo, I actually… kinda want him gone hahaha. I’m a little fed up with him xD It’s not as if he’s getting bad projects, so I can’t avoid him like I do Kirsten Stewart sometimes xD

  2. ghost says:

    What would have happened with a role reversal with Wilde playing the main character and Timberlake playing the dad?

  3. Castor says:

    I find the premise really interesting but I’m not a fan of the cast which is too obviously trying to appeal to the MTV audience. Put classier stars in there and I would have been there. I will still check it out but only as a rental.

    • Rodrigo says:

      @Castor, Rental is a good idea. Had I paid to see this between a Thursday and Sunday (saw it on Sunday, but the ticket cost me a bit more than $1 because of a special discount around cinemas here), I would have felt ripped off. But that’s just me.

      Seyfried is the worst of the bunch IMO.

  4. amy says:

    Ok, you were right about Seyfried, but I laughed soooo hard when Justin lamented Olivia Wilde’s -spoiler- xD I was actually beginning to feel bad because she was running and all, then JT had to act.

    It just didn’t work out for me.

  1. August 26, 2014

    […] year’s bland but pretty In Time left many wary of Niccol, and with his next work being based on a Stephenie Meyer novel, things […]

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