In Time (2011)

We are told at the beginning of this movie that people are genetically created with only a 25 year lifespan. If you want to live longer than that allotment you have to somehow get more time. Some do it by working for their time and others stay alive by stealing time. Time is a commodity.

In the not-too-distant future the aging gene has been switched off. To avoid overpopulation, time has become the currency and the way people pay for luxuries and necessities. The rich can live forever, while the rest try to negotiate for their immortality. A poor young man who comes into a fortune of time, though too late to help his mother from dying. He ends up on the run from a police force known as 'time keepers'.

There is a lot of scenes of people running in this film. I felt like I was watching Tom Cruise for a second since his movies always have a scene with Cruise running for his life. I suspect the director thought that showing people running and constantly staring at their forearms would somehow created the frenetic pace that this movie needed to work. Instead of caring about the characters I found that I was mad at them for making so many stupid decisions.


I will admit to loving Amanda Seyfried so she can do no wrong. She looks like a doll that has come to life. For all my complaints with this movie she and Timberlake are cast well. I am glad we weren't subjected to a love scene. That would have really slowed things down and the purpose here is to MOVE and move fast. Hustle for your time like a drug addict needing a fix.

Like in 'Logan's Run' the IDEA of a society of eternally young and beautiful people sounds like a until you think about it for a half second. There is no way that anyone would ever just 'surrender' themselves to their fate if they can just run away and avoid it.


Everything here is solid. Cillian Murphy is a good adversary. The leads are very appealing. The idea is intriguing. So why do I feel short changed? If I was a witty man I would make some crack about a movie about time that wasted mine.

Timberlake would be a good Jason Bourne. He can pull off that action hero vibe effortlessly.

7/10