Review of In Time (2011) by David D — 23 Jul 2013

In Time's greatest strength is an interesting idea. Movies about dystopian futures are nothing new, but In Time's take - where time is literally money - is at least refreshingly original. That said, for such an interesting story concept, the plot itself is pretty poor.

The movie seems confused at what kind of movie it wants to be or where it wants to take things, especially for the first half of the film. The characters are not well fleshed out and the decisions they make are often confusing.

Revelations in the plot seem to happen merely out of convenience - JT suddenly good at fighting his way out of troubled situations, for instance. The acting in this movie does not help things, either.

Timberlake is the greatest culprit of poor acting. He may be attempting to become the White Will Smith (furthered by his attempt at a serious, dramatic movie in a dystopian future - like iRobot), but he is NOT a serviceable action star at this point.

Some of his acting just had me shaking my head. Amanda Seyfried is only marginally better, though perhaps that is because she appeals to me in a way JT doesn't. Really, there were only three standouts among the cast: Olvia Wilde (during her five minutes), Cillian Murphy (as per usual), and Alex Pettyfer, who stood out the most to me.

In Time is worth a watch because of the interesting idea that fuels it and the improved second half of the film (when it finds and sticks with an actual plot), but it could easily have been so much better.