In Time (2011) - Andrew Niccol

Synopsis:

In a world where you stop ageing and 25 and the year you have left becomes your currency, the world becomes split into zones, separating the poor from the rich. The poor die, and the rich live for ever. Will Sallas looks to fight against this system after being accused of murder, taking on a hostage of one of the richest men on the planet.

It's nice to see an original film come out of Hollywood, not something based on a book, or a remake or a sequel or prequel and so on and so forth, and In Time has very interesting premise and one that has bucket loads a lot of potential. Because of the counting down clocks you're fearing the worst the whole way through, always on edge. This is a great plot device as it keeps you constantly engaged. For that I say kudos... however, so much more could have been done and expanded on.

For example, this is clearly set in a time after ours, in a dystopian future. What they never go into detail about is how it happened, and why. The film only takes place in a small proximity too. Its made up of various zones, the poor people with very little have to live in the inner zones while the rich people are off loving life somewhere else. But it's only made up of about 15 zones, and it only takes a matter of hours to pass through from the richest to the poorest areas. I'm just wondering what's going on with the rest of the world. Is this the only place to have peoples mortality defined by how much time they can accumulate? What about other countries? Has the world become condensed? It could have been much bigger and felt that it had been very constricted and that no real thought or effort had gone on. It could have been so interesting to see how the time worked. The whole aim of the film was to stop people dying so that other people could live. I thought they were going to go along the lines of, they wanted everyone to live as god intended, so instead of trying to find a source or something that would reverse the genetics maybe (I don't know, it's not my film), they go around just giving time to poor people, not really helping in the long run at all. A lot more effort could have gone on in that respect and feel like it was a missed opportunity. The end product feeling very kind of one-dimensional.

But one dimensional films aren't all bad, they're often good fun, this one being no exception. Despite the idea being flawed as a whole it allowed for some interesting things to get though. Like the idea of Fighting for time, which is kind of like arm wrestling. It seems a little non-sensical, considering strength doesn't come into it, although it clearly should, but still a decent concept on the surface. It' also cool, and sort of trippy, that everyone stops ageing at 25. You know this by the time Justin Timberlake's mum walks into the scene but it doesn't really hit you until you see her. That your parents on the surface are as old as you is strange but it keeps you thinking all through the film.

Also a couple nice action pieces going on in the there as (to quote a Mr. Liam Baxter) it becomes a Robin Hood kind of vehicle. Where time is stolen from the rich to give to the poor. I love the interaction between our VERY attractive leads Justin (I'm not going to bash his acting, too easy of a target... oh wait) & Amanda Seyfried's character Sylvia and their pursuer Raymond. Raymond (Cillian Murphy) being the show stealer for me. Just an all around brilliant character. Someone who cares only for the law, determined to keep the balance, like an angel, out doing the business of God. Not questioning, just a vehicle for justice, a Time Keeper through and through. No bribe can shake this man, making him completely transcend humanity into a completely different beast. Or maybe I'm looking too much into it and am biased because I really like Murphy as an actor. Or maybe I'm thinking about it too deeply, but someone's got to pick up the slack the writer's dropped.

Overview:

A brilliant idea on paper but something the writer/director couldn't quite formulate into something truly spectacular. That's not to say you wont have fun watching it. A solid little film with enough tension and the sprinkling of cool that you'll sit through it quite comfortably.

Rating:

★★★