In Time

        This weekend I saw "In Time" starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. I'd been wanting to see this movie since I first heard about it. The concept is intriguing: some time in the next century people are genetically engineered to stop aging at 25. After that they get a year to live. They can earn more time by working (since time is the new currency), but they never physically age past 25. If your clock runs out, you drop dead. The sociopolitical hierarchy that evolves out of this system is fascinating from both a science fictional as well as metaphorical perspective. People live in time zones based on their income. Poverty-stricken ghettos surround the ultra-rich city of immortals called New Greenwich. The police have been replaced by Timekeepers, whose job isn't to ensure justice, but ensure the balance between time zones. As one of the rich upper class tells Timberlake's character, Salas, at the beginning of the film "for a few to be immortal, many must die."
     The concepts proposed by this movie are just too good to be wrapped up in a mediocre thriller staring a pop celebrity. Unfortunately, while the film is entertaining and at times far too smart for its target audience, it doesn't probe its ideas to their greatest depth. If this had been a novel and the author had taken the time to fully flesh out the world and its inhabitants, it would be a bestseller. I normally don't write critical reviews of movies or books. If I don't like something, I just leave it alone. Everyone has their own subjective view, and who am I to say something is bad? However, "In Time" has a lot going for it and it's definitely worth seeing despite its drawbacks. It just irks me that it could have been so much more had its writers taken the time to explore the world in greater detail and perhaps given it a better cast. Timberlake is not a terrible actor, there are certainly worse out there, but all I could see was the celebrity, not the character. Perhaps "In Time" would have been better with an indie cast. Who knows?
     We need more SF films like this. Though it falls short of the mark, "In Time" definitely strives to be more than just a run-of-the-mill futuristic thriller, and for that I'm grateful. If you've got some time (no pun intended) and a buck or two, do yourself a favor and rent this. You won't be blown away, but you will think. And sometimes that's more important.

         Four out of Five stars.