Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
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SALT LAKE CITY -- In the not too distant future there is no need for money, no need for stocks and bonds; gold and silver are irrelevant. The only thing that matters is time.
Justin Timberlake stars as Will Salas who, like everyone else in the ghetto, struggles daily to simply get by. He lives with his gorgeous mother who doesn't look a day over 25. But as the two plan the celebration of mom's 50th birthday, the premise of "In Time" is revealed.
Each person born is engineered to stop aging on their 25th birthday. So far, so good. But on that date, a clock in the left arm comes to life and starts ticking down from one year. Now, you're on your own. Everything adds or subtracts time from your life. You're paid in time, every service or commodity cost you time and the plan is to not "time out." If you do, you're dead. Minutes and hours can be transferred with a grasp of the arm or a wrist devise.
The stark conditions of the ghetto have people literally living hour-to-hour and minute-to-minute. But we discover that there are other "time zones" where people live in less desperate conditions. When personal tragedy combines with a most unexpected infusion of time, Will Salas is determined to move on.
While the storyline is certainly intriguing and even timely, filmmakers just haven't put enough meat on the bones.
In this complicated story that offers far too little explanation, Will pays dearly to go through each time barrier to ultimately associate with the richest people on earth. In this Monte Carlo-like environment, he enters a casino, joins a poker game and puts all of his time on the table.
This is where he meets Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried), the daughter of an enormously rich man who controls eons of time. Needless to say, Will's activities do not go unnoticed by the authorities and the police, known as time keepers, are hot on Will's trail. In making an escape, Will takes Sylvia hostage. Before long, they both recognize the scope of the corruption, the manipulation and the two start acting like Robin Hood and Maid Marion.
"In Time" strives to serve as an allegory for recent headlines in our capitalistic world of today with a focus on the unfathomable accumulation of wealth and the manipulation of markets and social engineering.
Even with its shortcomings, I was entertained.
While the storyline is certainly intriguing and even timely, filmmakers just haven't put enough meat on the bones. How did society get to this point? How do you engineer a human to stop aging and how do you install that cool, yet sinister clock? And why can't those wallowing in time and power simply override the clock? OK, I'm over-thinking this.
Timberlake and Seyfried turn in good performances and Cillian Murphy as the time-keeper is quite good, basically portraying a relentless Inspector Javert-type character. But the disconnect comes in the lack of a meaningful foundation of information.
Even with its shortcomings, I was entertained and "In Time" did get me thinking. Rated PG-13, I'm giving the movie 2 1/2 stars.
(See the trailer below)
