Movie Review: “In Time”

In Time is a 2011 American dystopian science fiction film written, directed, as well as produced by Andrew Niccol, starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. For those that aren’t aware, this film has a really neat concept to it that I thought had a lot of potential.

I remember whenever I first saw the trailers for this movie and I was instantly swept away by the sheer audacity of the ideas alone. There is nothing to say except that it’s a thought that leaves so many possibilities on the table that it would be impossible to do them all in one movie.

This is why the lawsuit that was filed against In Time was ultimately dropped after the person watched the movie.

*clunk*

This would be the mesmeric sound of yours truly getting off of his soapbox.

Back on task, this movie had my interest from the beginning from the concept. Justin Timberlake has come along way over the years, he is more than merely a former member of an old boy-band, he is actually a formidable actor. I have appreciated his work in The Social Network, and he has had solid performances in decent or mediocre movies like Friends with Benefits, Runner, Runner, and Southland Tales, as well.

Decide for yourself which is decent and which is mediocre out of those three.

I haven’t seen a lot of Amanda Seyfried’s work though, in-fact, this is the first movie of hers that I have seen, and I thought she did a decent supporting character. Aside from those two, Cillian Murphy, known for Inception and his role as Scarecrow in the Dark Knight Trilogy, also played a prominent role.

I found for this movie to be particularly entertaining with the novelty that it carried, I appreciate a lot of what they flushed out from the storyline, obviously thinking about several elements and dimensions to their realm aside from what is standard. The performances were considerable as well, nobody was really earth-shattering in-terms of emotions, the three names that I mentioned all had their moments, but none of them achieved the depth that I believe they were capable of.

As the protagonist, it was easy to say that Justin Timberlake got the closest, however. I think the biggest issue that individuals have with movies relying heavily upon the concept is the idea that everything else will take a backseat to it. I enjoy interesting premises like this, and Inception, where they take risks or carry ideology that hasn’t been saturated into film already.

While I believe they had enough ideas strewn together to keep everything functioning, I do believe that there was an absence of chemistry between all of the characters in-terms of dialogue or emotion. They said things, and they emphasized them, but I never really appreciated any of it. The narrative itself is fueled by the intricacies and unorthodox styling, for the most part, it carries familiar elements and simple storytelling which happens to work against the enigma of it all. I don’t believe that the movie capitalizes on a lot of the talent held by the cast, and as I have already expressed, the concept itself has a large plethora of potential.

Even still, the film is easy to find yourself wooed into and taken for an entertaining ride that grows weary, ahem, in time.