In Time
2011
*½
Director: Andrew Niccol
Cast: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Vincent Kartheiser, Olivia Wilde, Matt Bomer, Johnny Galecki, Collins Pennie, Alex Pettyfer
In this alternate reality, time is money. All men stop aging at 25, which is when the time counter on their forearm begins to count down to death unless they manage to earn, buy, steal, or prostitute more time. Justin Timberlake plays an everyman who turns into a gun-wielding Robin Hood-like action hero overnight when an old man gifts him more than a hundred years. Andrew Niccol's film is a terribly heavy-handed critique of capitalism. In this world, the rich get richer, and the rest literally die of poverty. Niccol has penned some wonderful science fiction stories (Gattaca and The Truman Show) and some terrible ones (S1mone). This time, he has devised one extremely gimmicky idea...and nothing else. He expects the audience to accept his creation at face value, and makes no attempt to explain how this alternate universe (which seems incredibly small and self-contained) came to be or how it would ever function. In fact, everything stops making sense early on. If Niccol establishes any rules about the world, he is certain to break them in the next scene. One thing is for sure, though; after 109 minutes, I have seen enough forearms to last me a lifetime.
