Review 417: In Time

In Time has an intriguing premise, an attractive cast and looks great, but all of that is squandered by a rushed narrative, disjointed pacing and a weird sense of detachment.

It's the year 2169, people are genetically engineered to stop ageing at the age of 25 and a green glowing digital clock that appears on their forearm begins counting down from approx. 1 year.
When the reaches 0 that person "times out" and dies. Time has now become the universal currency, the poor now live on borrowed time with 24 hours or less on their clock and the wealthy can live forever with enough time on their clocks to live for centuries.
Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) is a poor 28 year old factory worker who lives with his mum Rachel (Olivia Wilde) and who rarely has more than a day's worth on his time clock.
When he saves a 105 year old man Harry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) from time thieves, Will receives the gift of a century by Hamilton transferring 116 years of his time to Will. However such a large transaction attracts the attention of the authoritative Timekeepers led by Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy) and when Will is falsely accused of murder he goes on the run taking Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried) the daughter of an incredibly weather family with him all the while looking for a way to bring down the corrupt system.

The plot sounds great and intriguing, but the way it's told comes across as so frustratingly rushed.
It's as though writer/director Andrew Niccol never wants to build the world, develop any tension, or develop any of its characters. Whenever the film stops to develop its characters, the moments feel so hollow, nothing about them seems interesting. The characters just don't seem to have the kind of connection they should have

At no point is the premise explored or developed to its full potential and at no point is it executed well. The whole affair winds up becoming generic, routine, disposable and ultimately forgettable as a result. The premise alone feels less like the and more like a backdrop for generic car chases.
After the fist 15 mins the film essentially descends into a futuristic Bonnie and Clyde and never really takes any chances.

Andrew Niccol direction is painly stolid. He stages shots and chase scenes and they look fine but there's soul or passion behind them.

The cinematography is stylish and captures the beautiful but corrupt atmosphere of the setting, the score by Craig Armstrong is ok but nothing spectacular or amazing and an overall step-down from Armstrong's usual bombastic standards. The production design is exquisite and beautifully captures the glossy stylish environment of New Greenwich and the poor, rundown living environments of Dayton, the costumes are gorgeous, the props are well crafted and the scenery is nice.
The action scenes, however, are pretty generic and dull, they're directed fine and clearly but there's no excitement, there's no WOW factor and they wind up being competent but not memorable - the same goes for the stunts which, again, are competently executed but are virtually devoid of soul.

The acting is decent if unremarkable, Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried do their best with the material they're given but are unfortunately unable to rise above the thin material they're given. Niccol’s writing never provides our two appealing leads much depth beyond their one note stereotypes.

The lovely & talented Olivia Wilde is unfortunately wasted and given little to do other than fulfill the thankless role of the sacrificial lamb in the role of Rachel Salas, Will's mum as is Matt Bomer in the role of Henry Hamilton, a 105 year old man who has become board with life, that's all there is to their characters.

The usually dependable Cillian Murphy is reduced to playing the obligatory sheriff or "Timekeeper" as they refer to them and Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser has very little to do other than be the mean father to Seyfried's Sylvia.

Alex Pettyfer, Toby Hemmingway, Bella Heathcote, Matt Bomer and The Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki round out the cast with mostly underwritten

Time is one thing that is certainly not on this films side, 2/5.

The Anonymous Critic.