[Review] In Time

In Time (2011)

Dir: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy

IMDb: “In a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year, having the means to buy your way out of the situation is a shot at immortal youth. Here, Will Salas finds himself accused of murder and on the run with a hostage – a connection that becomes an important part of the way against the system.”

With the premise that everyone stops aging at 25 and has just one year left to live, In Time was always going to be an ‘out there’ film. While firmly suited in the sci-fi genre, there are other elements to it, namely romance and the Robin Hood, ‘steal from the rich to give to the poor’, notion.

While not a technically brilliant film – it is only scoring 39% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing – I found it very enjoyable with some good attention to detail. Will Salas (Timberlake) and Sylvia Weis (Seyfried), Salas’ victim come partner-in-crime, are pursued by a time keeper, Raymond Leon (Murphy). The time keepers are there to keep track of time, make sure it hasn’t been stolen, etc. The fact that the time keepers don’t carry much time on them as a deterrent to would-be criminals was a nice touch, I thought.

The casting was strong and Murphy was, as always, brilliant. This was the first time I’d seen Timberlake in action and I thought he was very impressive – he embodied his character very well.

Like I said earlier, I did enjoy this film though I can see why critically it hasn’t done very well. There are action scenes aplenty though at times it does feel quite cliched. It is certainly one of those films where you can preempt what will happen.

★★★