Review of In Time (2005) by Walter M — 07 Mar 2013

In the future, everybody will be genetically engineered to stop aging at the age of 25. The bad news is they have only one more year beyond that to live, unless they earn more time, which means people like Will Salas(Justin Timberlake) and his mother(Olivia Wilde) have to live day to day like many other people in the ghetto. That all changes when Henry Hamilton(Matt Bomer) shows up with a literal death wish. In return for Will's kindness, Henry gives him his century plus that he had remaining to him. Will has little time to take advantage of this windfall before tragedy strikes, leaving nothing to hold him back and prevent him from seeking his fortune in exclusive New Greenwich where he quickly gains the attention of Sylvia(Amanda Seyfried) and her father(Vincent Kartheiser), not to mention Timekeeper Raymond Leon(Cillian Murphy).

To its credit, "In Time" is one of the very few recent Hollywood movies to adress class in any meaningful way, as a science fiction allegory whose originality depends on which lawyer you talk to. Proving the old dictum that the last resort of the unimaginative is the car chase, the movie sadly is much more about telling than showing as not that much thought was given over to the details of how such a world would work(For example, 4 minutes for a cup of coffee and 2 hours for a local bus.) and what it would look like. This second part would have been improved if more diverse locations had been utilized to film in than just generic Los Angeles places. But then nearly all of the performances, with the exception of Matt Bomer who has the sole emotional impact, have the same affectless feel, which is strange considering these characters come from different worlds, and does not make the fact that everybody is the same physical age as creepy as it should have been.