Blu-ray Review In Time
Directed by: Andrew Niccol Cast: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Alex Pettyfer Running Time: 1 hr 49 mins Rating: PG-13 Due Out: January 31, 2012
PLOT: In a world where time is currency and every second counts, a young man (Timberlake) from the ghetto seeks to shake up the economic system by kidnapping a rich man's daughter (Seyfried).
WHO'S IT FOR? It doesn't matter if you like looking at Timberlake or Seyfried, or if you think action movies can be fun in general. If you don't buy this unusual concept, this sci-fi flick won't be worth your ... time.
MOVIE:
In Time is the cracked idea of someone trying to get general audience members into seats, but also throw them into something entirely new in the process. For all we know, (without seeing the extras), this idea could have come to writer/director Andrew Niccol when he actually put a second thought into the phrase, "Time is money."
The concept of the movie's literal take on "time is money" allows for ingredients that serve multiplex appetites. Everyone is young and beautiful at a top age of 25, (so Olivia Wilde can play a hot mom who doesn't actually look fifty), no one has a cell phone, (Hollywood still hasn't embraced cell phones fully) and the ticking of life clocks can force characters to run dramatically, without having to be chased by anything. In the realm of contemporary relevance, Timberlake's character can be viewed as a "Robin Hood of the 99%."
Timberlake, on a high of playing the lead in different movies (or at least, Friends with Benefits pretended to be), is fine here. Picking his first "action" role from a movie in an alternate world is a wise choice for him. As we get used to the movie's concept, we accept the idea of Timberlake playing a gun-toting tough guy as well.
Outside of the conflicted cop/time-keeper played by Cillian Murphy, In Time lacks a strong villain, even though it offers two and a half of them (Murphy being the fraction). Alex Pettyfer (the whippersnaper from I Am Number Four and Beastly) plays a cheesy underworld boss that just makes you cringe with scowling lines like "I'll clean your clocks." Vincent Kartheiser (from "Mad Men") plays the movie's go-go zillionaire, a smarmy egomaniac who provides no revelations about money and power - he's just a jerk.
To make it a bit worse, In Time also has an interest in arm wrestling. A scene that shows two men wrestling with their arm money recalls Sylvester Stallone's laughable trucker movie Over the Top more than anything else.
Despite its dedication to making the movie's concept believable, In Time is trapped into a type of cuteness with its dialogue that brings attention to the literal usages of phrases normally used as expressions. Still, if you accept this movie for what it is, flaws and all, you'll be glad that someone is trying to provide generic entertainment with a different perspective.
MOVIE SCORE: 6/10
EXTRAS
"The Minutes" Deleted/Extended Scenes