Film Diary 2011: In Time (From The Argus)

Film Diary 2011: In Time

10:49am Thursday 3rd November 2011 in Blogs By Owain Paciuszko - Seat 13

Opening with a brief scene setting narration that feels as tacked on by a cautious studio as the similarly explanatory voiceover to Alex Proyas' Dark City, Justin Timberlake's character Will Salas quickly explains that sometime in the past humans were genetically re-engineered so that they aged until they were 25, then they never got one day older, but from that moment on a clock on their arm ticked down for one whole year. At the end of that year they will die, but they can earn more time through work or trade, though things - rent, taxes, a cup of coffee - are all paid for in time as well.

Andrew Niccol, the writer of The Truman Show, has clearly come up with a truly brilliant concept; sure it shares a lot of DNA with cult sci-fi Logan's Run (in which every human dies when they reach 30 years), but adds in the literal ticking clock element and the idea that a human can live forever if they can keep gaining time. This means that civilization has been divided into 'time zones', Timberlake's Will is from the ghetto where everyone scrapes along with hours to spare, but after a suicidal stranger gifts him a hundred years Will heads to Zone 4 where the rich swan about in luxury, though, as Amanda Seyfried's Sylvia Weis mentions, they're too afraid to do anything truly adventurous in case they have an accident and die.

There are a lot of interesting and potentially exciting concepts at play in Niccol's film, he also uses the scenario as a neat metaphor for the current economic situation, playing up the injustice of the elite 1% vs the 99% scraping by, with Matt Bomer's Henry Hamilton exposing the 'truth' about the system to Will early in the film, Niccol hints at a broader movie that borrows the strucutre of Logan's Run more directly. Unfortunately the film has a muddled, shuffling and tension free narrative that never moves beyond its 2nd Act.

Bizarrely there's very little velocity to people's lives, considering every one there is up against the clock it would make sense for there to be a more hectic way of life, that would further contrast with the extremely sedate, almost zombie-like crawl of those with nothing but time on their hands living in luxury. The film's strongest scene is a poker game Will plays when he first goes to the rich time zone, it manages to balance tension, wit and big ideas in a fashion that's largely missing from the rest of the movie, aided by an entertaining and snivelly performance by Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser as Phillipe Weis.

Beyond this the film becomes a cat-and-mouse chase picture with Cillian Murphy's timekeeper Raymond Leon in pursuit of Will and Sylvia as they attempt to turn the tables on the rich, his character goes through an arc that is strangely discarded as the film reaches its conclusion. Similarly Alex Pettyfer crops up as a 'minuteman' and his scenes are bland and devoid of the requisite tension or menace to make his character anything more than another inconvenience on the journey. It's a problem that plagues the film beyond its performances, the editing of the movie is often disjointed and shambolic, as if the film has been hastily reassembled, whilst scenes are played out with a detached sense of cool that only further keeps the audience at a distance. Nothing has any impact, the film just trundles along with barely a twist or turn and it hints at grander ideas that are never explored.

All this is a huge shame because In Time does have a great concept at its heart, but it makes too many poor decisions and suffers from having an uncharismatic lead couple with Timberlake in particular failing to deliver on the promise of small roles in The Social Network, Alpha Dog and Black Snake Moan, whilst Seyfried has very little to do but run after Timberlake and occasionaly widen her eyes. A frustratingly disappointing film.

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