In Time
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy
Director: Andrew Niccol
Rating: 2/5
Timing is everything in the world of movies. Everyone in Hollywood wants to be current with the times, but rarely get it right. By either luck or excellent judgement, In Time couldn't be any more current, bringing us a sci-fi twist on the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement.
In Time brings us a future world where genetic engineering has meant that people stop ageing at 25, but only have a year to live after that. Time has now turned to money, with the rich near immortal, and the poor struggling to make it through the week.
Here we follow Will Salas (Justin Timberlake), a nobody who after saving a mysterious man in a bar, finds himself in possession of over a century on his clock. Now mixing it with the elite, he seeks to aid the ghettos he came from by kidnapping rich girl Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried) and spreading the wealth in true Robin Hood style.
The trouble is though, that it's more Mork and Mindy than Bonnie and Clyde.
Never do you ever feel any spark between the two leads, a situation not helped by a lurching timeline and lack of any real peril. Timberlake and Seyfried are individually inoffensive, but have all on-screen the chemistry of a pair of mannequins.
The script doesn't win any friends too, with a horrible amount of clock-based puns, limp dialogue throughout and a complete lack of a real villain, despite Cillian Murphy's best efforts as a gruff cop. Even the world is uninspired, never looking anything like futuristic or distinctive in any way.
It's a theme that unfortunately lies at the heart of In Time, summed up perfectly in 'fights' that more resemble a hand shake than a bout of fisticuffs.
A case of a great idea spoiled by poor execution, In Time has to go down as an enormous missed opportunity, even more so compared to director and writer Andrew Niccol's previous effort Gattaca.
With a better script and more capable actors, it could have been something really special, but ends up being all too forgettable.
In Time is out now.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith
Tagged in Justin Timberlake