IN TIME
Directed by: Andrew Niccol
Written by: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde, Vincent Kartheiser
Four words no major or minor, male or female, film critic ever expected to mention in a review (at least not seriously): “Justin Timberlake, action-hero.”Since Timberlake transitioned to adult-oriented role, he’s appeared primarily in light comedies, a seemingly perfect segue from his career as a singer-performer and one-time member of the Mickey Mouse Club (with Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Ryan Gosling no less). A transition, or rather an attempted transition, into action roles seemed far more improbable, but the prospect of said transition is exactly what moviegoers will be facing this weekend and next (and the week after next) with the arrival of IN TIME (formerly IM.MORTAL), a science-fiction/action film that delivers high-concept ideas, political and social commentary, and mandatory set pieces in uneven amounts.
Timberlake and/or his agent-managing team smartly chose a high-concept, science-fiction premise from Andrew Niccol, a filmmaker best known (if he’s known at all among casual moviegoers and video watchers) for writing and directing another high-concept, science fiction film, GATTACA, fourteen years ago. IN TIME swaps out GATTACA’s genetically altered future for another dystopian retro-future where the magic of unexplained science and technology guarantees everyone twenty-five years of life (not including accidental or intentional bodily harm resulting in a premature demise, of course). At twenty-five, a literal biological clock gives the user one last year of life (everything’s literal in Niccol’s script, so expect five or six more uses of the word in this review). Time, however, can be brought, literally. Time has become the one and only currency. You can buy time, trade time, borrow time, but if you don’t buy, trade, or borrow enough time, your biological clock will tick down to zero, causing permanent organ failure.
For Niccol, the use of time as currency serves as a potent, if over-obvious, metaphor for the Western capitalism, specifically the global financial crisis three years that exposed massive income inequality, the erosion, near-extinction of the middle class due to an ever-increasing cost of living and stagnant wages, inevitably resulting into the haves (the wealthy and powerful can live hundreds of years) and the have-nots (the poor and week rarely live beyond their initial time, all of which brings us back to IN TIME’s hero-protagonist, Will Salas (Timberlake), a factory worker literally living paycheck to paycheck and, due to the exorbitant cost of living, literally living day to day. Whatever Salas doesn’t spend to keep himself alive, he spends on his impossibly, disturbingly hot 50-year-old mother, Rachel (Olivia Wilde), hoping to keep her alive as long as humanly possible, a feat that becomes increasingly difficult with arbitrary price increases in the price and, therefore, the cost, of everyday necessities like food, clothes, and housing.
Everything goes sideways for our heroic factory, as it must or we wouldn’t have a film, when he encounters a member of the elite over-class slumming in his “time zone” (time zones restrict movement to those that can afford expensive time tolls). Salas’ best friend, Borel (THE BIG BANG THEORY’S Johnny Galecki) suggests caution, but Salas can’t help but play Good Samaritan and save a slumming one-percenter, Henry Hamilton (WHITE COLLAR’s Matt Bomer), from death and dismemberment (not necessarily in that order) at the hands of the so-called “Minute Men” and their thuggish leader, Fortis (Alex Pettyfer). For his trouble, Salas becomes wealthy beyond imagining: He gets over a century of life. He also becomes a target for the Minute Men and, more importantly, Timekeepers led by Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy), a ruthless, status quo-supporting police officer.
Before the Timekeepers catch up to Salas (the first time), he manages to slip into New Greenwich, the ultra-exclusive time zone reserved for area’s power elite. In quick succession, Salas crosses path with Sylvia Weis (a bewigged Amanda Seyfried) and her ultra-powerful financier father, Philippe (MAD MEN’s Vincent Kartheiser). Salas escapes the Timekeepers, using Sylvia as a human shield and kidnap victim, shifting IN TIME into action genre territory and, alas, only returning for quick info dumps and exposition sidebars related to the time-as-currency premise that underlies IN TIME. From there, a car chase gives way to the obligatory romantic bonding followed by a foot chase, a bank robbery (time-as-money can be stored on silver devices that resemble portable hard drives), and one or more chase scenes, in or out of super-sleek retro cars.
IN TIME borrows plot elements from, among others, LOGAN’S RUN, THE FUGITIVE, James Bond, any number of “wrong man”/”double-chase” films (e.g., Alfred Hitchcock’s THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS and NORTH BY NORTHWEST), and even Niccol’s earlier, well-respected film, GATTACA. Setting IN TIME in a recognizable near-future with minimal technological changes (the elder Weis and the Timekeepers have access to computers and giant video screens) serves a dual function, one budget related, the other aesthetic/narrative. Men in the power elite prefer MAD MEN-inspired suits and ties, women party/cocktail dresses. New Greenwich is clean, antiseptic; the opposite of Salas’ dirty, grimy time zone where nothing’s new and everything’s been recycled multiple times. If nothing else, Niccol’s “time-as-currency” retro-future feels possible, if not probable.
The same, more or less, can be said for Timberlake’s performance. He isn’t asked to do much, emoting on cue at key, downbeat moments, playing the in-control, physically fit action-hero credibly. He’s on the move frequently (e.g., running, fighting, etc.). He’s almost a good a runner as Tom Cruise and far, far better than one-time action star Steven Seagal in his prime (YouTube both for examples). Seyfried fares poorly as the obligatory love interest and potential partner in crime, giving a non-energetic performance as Sylvia (to be fair, that could be Niccol’s fault as director and screenwriter). Vincent Kartheiser takes obvious pleasure in the role of semi-stock villain while Cillian Murphy adds weight and modest gravitas to an underwritten role.
