In Time
Year: 2011
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1 HR, 49 MIN
Director: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Vincent Kartheiser, Matt Bomer, Johnny Galecki, and Olivia Wilde
I stressed to myself in the days before seeing In Time that I needed to keep an open mind. I think the first time I saw the trailer was before Rise of the Planet of the Apes and I remember saying to myself “Justin Timberlake? Fuck off, I’m not seeing that.” As time went by however I began to warm up to the concept while of course not completely buying in. Truthfully I don’t have anything against Timberlake, I was in high school when N’sync was popular but a lot has changed since then and he’s shaken off some of that douchebag persona he had back in the day and now I’m mostly indifferent to him. This is the first time I’ve gone to a film starring the former boy band star but the other films I’ve seen him in haven’t been ruined by his presence so it was only a matter of time before he got a starring gig (the “time” pun wasn’t intended by the way).
In Time is set in the not so distant future where science has progressed to the point where people stop aging at 25 and must work to “buy more time” while also using their time as currency. Everyone has a digital countdown clock on their wrist so they know exactly how much time they have left and they pay for everything from coffee to cars by putting their wrists on a scanner like a QuickPay reader. Our hero, Will Salas, lives literally day to day in this system until he meets a mysterious man named Henry who has a death wish and enough time to almost live for ever. The mystery man informs Will that the “time” system is designed to keep those in power rich with time while keeping the poor desperate for more. Henry says he’s lived longed enough and unbeknownst to Will gives him almost all his time before (in the film’s lingo) “timing himself out.” With more than a century to his name Will decides it’s time to do right by his Mommy (Olivia Wilde) but tragedy strikes and Will decides to move on up to the better side of town and take down the system from the inside. Conveniently, Will almost immediately meets the most powerful man in the time business and his ginger daughter Slyvia (Amanda Seyfried) who will eventually become very important to Will’s quest. Will’s streetwise antics only get him so far until the Timekeepers (aka Time Police) show up led by Raymond, The Head Timekeeper (Cillain Murphy) who wants to question Will about the death of Henry. Sam essentially kidnaps Slyvia and they’re off to change the world before they run out of time themselves.
Where to begin? If you didn’t figure it out from the trailer or TV commercials prepare to be hit over the head by a thinly veiled allegory about the supposed widening gap between the rich and the poor in the U.S. and around the world. Subtlety is not one of In Time’s strong suits by any means and I don’t want to get into a big political discussion about the distribution of wealth around the world since I enjoy talking about politics on the internet just about as much as I enjoy having a hobo piss on my leg. Needless to say the film has a very clear message that the filmmakers have no problem hammering home repeatedly. Maybe what bugs me more than how they go about trying to get their message across is the fact that it’s a bunch of people that make millions of dollars making movies for a living telling me how unfair wealth is distributed. Rich celebrities trying to identity with people living paycheck to paycheck seems somewhat disingenuous to me. At the beginning of the film we’re treated to a lot of exposition about how the poor live day to day trying to earn time but never seeming to be able to get ahead and how those rich with time control the system. Once Will and Slyvia get together the film takes on more of a Bonnie & Clyde meets Robin Hood style with Cillian Murphy playing a mix of Sheriff Nottingham and Inspector Javert from Les Misérables. There are multiple instances where Will and Slyvia give overly preachy speeches telling the horrors of wealth being kept among the elite and how you shouldn’t just look away, you should fight back. The main antagonist in In Time is of course white, old (according to them), and they tell you flat out that the poor need the rich to run their lives for them. I’m surprised that the main villain didn’t have a mustache to twirl and a monocle so they could strike a resemblance to the Monopoly man.
In Time doesn’t really work as a social commentary film or as an action film. Director Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca is a much better example of the film that warns us of the dangers of genetic manipulation and how it could lead to a caste system. Allegories work best when they’re presented in a film with subtlety, In Time goes the opposite route by using heavy handed exposition or poorly veiled subtext. Far too often I felt like I was getting hit over the head with the film’s message instead of enjoying the film with the message being taken in subconsciously. In terms of In Time being an enjoyable action film it fails because it just retreads what other better film’s have done before. We have the standard car chases, Tom Cruise’esqe running scenes featuring Timberlake, and a few dull as dishwater gun fights. None of it comes close to reinventing the wheel and honestly it isn’t very entertaining. There are way too many things that seem to completely rip off Gattaca like Will’s convertible strongly resembles Ethan Hawke’s convertible, the Timekeeper outfits resemble the “G-men”, and Gattaca‘s sterile living environment all carryover.
Another major gripe I had with In Time’s lazy story telling was the bizarre lack of cell phones and how it repeatedly led to the characters being put into situations that would normally occur in a film set before cell phone use became common place. There are multiple instances that characters could have used a cell phone to solve a situation they were in but were forced instead to make a ridiculous choice or use a pay phone. That’s right, I said pay phone. The characters in In Time live in a world filled technological and genetic advances but are limited to using pay phones to communicate in emergencies… fuck off lazy writers. There’s also a lame plot device that they introduce early on about an arm wrestling game for time that can kill people. Think Over the Top but with more time induced death… lame.
Justin Timberlake’s performance is sort of a wash. He’s not terrible but I certainly don’t think he was up to the task of being a leading man in an action drama such as this. I laughed a number of times when he tried to be dramatic and more than once did I chuckle to myself when a “dick-in-a-box” joke seemed appropriate. Faring slightly better than Timberlake is his love interest Amanda Seyfiend. She looks pretty hot as a red head and she does the best with what’s she given but the script does her no favors either. The biggest disappointment comes from the usually great Cillian Murphy. The problem with Murphy isn’t his performance but the incredibly boring character he’s forced to play. He’s such a talented actor that’s just going through the motions playing the stiff yet obsessed cop and even his role has a bit of a Gattaca ripoff twist. There are some good names heading up the supporting cast including the beautiful Olivia Wilde, White Collar‘s Matt Bomer, and The Big Bang Theory‘s Johnny Galecki but they come and go quickly from the picture with little importance or fanfare. There’s a lot of wasted talented in front of and behind the camera, it’s quite a shame.
In Time had a lot of going for it; a good director, an intriguing lead supported by a great cast, and a premise that on paper could have been a winner. Unfortunately, none of the aforementioned items help make this movie become more than a run of the mill action drama with a message that just keeps slapping the audience in the face. Maybe there was a better film here at one point and it got lost in the editing room but as it stands In Time is about as useful as a film as a wrist watch with no battery.
