Do you like the concept of TIME? What about just saying the word TIME a lot, over and over? Well, what if it was Justin Timberlake thinking and talking about TIME? If you’re already annoyed with how often I just used the word TIME then you may want to steer clear of this sci-fi flop. In Time follows Will Sala (Timberlake) as he lives out his existence being poor in a futuristic world where everyone really loved the phrase Time is Money. Taking that concept literally, the people use days, hours, minutes and seconds as currency, so if you are poor and run out of money, you will just up and die. Will inexplicably helps out a dude with over a century on his clock. In return he explains to him in detail how living forever is wrong, and the upper class is deciding who lives and dies, blah blah so on and so forth. Century dude gives Will his time without Will’s knowledge and subsequently lefts himself die (HIS TIME RAN OUT.) Anyway, Will makes his way to the upper crest of society and meets (Seyfried) before being hunted down by the Timekeeper (Murphy.) Will and go on the lamb, Bonnie & Clyde style. Oh and yes, I did just say Timekeeper.
The film has three major problems that are just too big to overcome. Like a lot of sci fi films, In Time’s holds a message for viewers. A message the writer felt was necessary to tell me constantly. The film arrives at its message early and yells it at you, then proceeds to keep explaining it for the remainder of the film via dialogue and character soliloquies. Beyond the DO YOU GET IT point pushing, there are so many corny conversations and situations. At one point Will is on his knees in the middle of an abandoned street screaming at the top of his lungs and it’s just so awkward to watch.
Secondly, the film has more plot holes than I care to really touch on. The world is advanced enough to have DNA genetically modified to produce green alarm clocks on your arm, but there are no real security measures put in place except cops, or I’m sorry, Timekeepers. There is no such thing as encryption , apparently. Besides thhe poor security measure, the understanding is that everyone’s “clock” starts when they turn 25. As a result, most people are young an attractive. However, we do at one point hear SEMI-SPOILER ALERT that someone ‘drank themselves to death.’ This implies that disease or at least organ failure is possible, yet the issue is not mentioned at all. Which makes me not understand why it is clearly stated that all the rich have to worry about is be harmed from an accident. I know it might sound like I’m overthinking it, but there are honestly too many more plot holes to manage that I can’t let it go.
The issue that will for sure turn people away from this is the lack of action. Truth be told there are about a total of two scenes that were packed with some semi-cool but short lived action. The rest of the action is literally people running. Check out Lola’s Run if you wanna see a good film that plays with time and contains lots of running.
In Time, isn’t the worst movie I’ve seen and you could get a hell of a lot more awful for your money. But this film is so flat and unexciting. The cast is certainly likable, although Timberlake’s acting has seen better moments. It’s a sort of boring script, with nothing new to say, resulting in a run-of-the mill action movie.
