It's time to review this dystopian sci-fi thriller film. Written & directed by Andrew Niccol, the movie open up in 2169, where people are born genetically engineered with a digital clock on their forearm. To help avoid overpopulation, when people turn 25 years old, they stop aging and their clock begins counting down from one year; when it reaches zero that person "times out" and dies instantly. Time has become the universal currency. The country has been divided into "time zones" based on the wealth of the population. The movie focuses on two specific zones: Dayton, a poor manufacturing area where people like Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) live day-to-day and New Greenwich, the wealthiest time zone, where Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfield) can live nearly forever. This is an everyday struggle for Will until he ends up rescuing a rich guy named Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer). For this favor, Henry gives his time to Will, so that he take revenge for the death of Will's mother (Olivia Wilde). Now with plenty of time, he plans to give the people, the freedom of their lives, by making the upper class pay. Too bad, Will Salas is a hypocrite. He delays all this, so that he can spent time, buying nice cars, eating at fancy restaurants, trying to hook up with Sylvia, attending rich people parties and playing high stakes poker. It takes forever to get to the 'Robin Hood' plot that the movie trailer promise us. Lots of filling scenes that slow down the pace to a crawl. The movie plot is a thinly-veiled allegory for the Occupy Wall Street movement against the 1%. It's supposed to be social commentary about the growing global divide between the haves and have-nots. It's an intriguing premise, but unfortunately, the movie follows a really predictable formulaic plot, ending with lousy satisfying conclusion. Robbing banks will solve the economy?!? What? This is a good example of Hollywood not understanding economics. Do they think, robbing banks would solve the economy? It would make it worst. "Is it stealing if it's already stolen?" quotes the movie. Yes, it is. This movie is just a mess; trying to add a Bonnie and Clyde type heist story with political overtones doesn't work. There was no depth to the movie's resolution other than everyone deserves equality. The movie lacks good exposition. It's too heavy-handed, explaining a lot of things that didn't need to. The movie takes a lot of Artistic License in science and economic causing a lot of things to make no sense. Obviously made for a teen demographic, everybody in the film cast is beautiful as hell. It's implied, they are genetically engineered, but still, I didn't know, the really poor, can still look amazing gorgeous, despite only have hours or minutes to live. It's really jarring. I do hope that the film makers know that aging isn't a gene. Even if the rich can live forever, the skin will still be thinner and wrinkled by time manly due to exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Aging can't be stop. Only postponed. Also, why 25 year old is the cut-off date? Isn't that the age frame where most people do the most work? Why not, use the ones that you selection to be born, longer like until 50 or 60 year old until terminating them? They isn't no point to eliminate them in the first place. You kill a lot of young people, who does the majority of the work? There is no reason why children should even being born, if they're genetically engineered and nobody dies from old age. Another thing, why waste resources waiting for the children to reach 25 in the first place? Just create a fully grown male and female. It doesn't make sense why people still need to eat and drink, when they don't feed on energy. How can you get alcohol poisoning if disease are eradicate in this world? There are so many loose-ends that I can go on, about like what happen to the time, when people die due to mauling to their bodies. If they are genetically engineered, couldn't they just get fix up? The movie even forget sub-plot like what happen to Will's late father. The movie is also very insulting. A lot of over the top rich people have Jewish last names pushing the Greedy Jew stereotypes. The acting is mediocre. Justin Timberlake is pretty lackluster. The best actor in the film, had to be Cillain Murphy. Amanda Seyfield is just there to be the love-interest, despite Will kidnapping her at gunpoint and almost killing her in a car accident. How romantic, Stockholm Syndrome, Patty Hearst right there. How stupid! The good things about the film is the score, the action, and the set design. It really does look futuristic. I love the time fighting race against the clock tense moments. Still, there were a lot of stupid suicidal disregard of time allowance by characters that makes you wonder. Are these people, stupid? Will himself keeps coming into large quantities of time, then giving it away and leaving himself only a few hours or even minutes instead of a few years. There is a strongly reminiscent of this film to other media works. Due to that reason, the film got often dealt with copyright lawsuits. One is Harlan Ellison whom believe that the film's plot was based on his 1965 short story 'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman". Another is Lee Falk who believe it was taken from "Mandrake and the Goldman: Time is Money", a comic issue. Many of the elements of In Time can be found in the 1987 short film 'The Price of Life' & the Hannu Rajaniemi's novel 'The Quantum Thief' as well. Overall: There isn't enough time in the world, to get me to re watch this bad movie. You're probably better off just watching 1997 Gattaca than wasting time and money on this movie.
Review of In Time
In Time
(2011)
This movie was a waste of time for me. Great concept, badly executed.
6 November 2014
Warning: Spoilers