Took me a while to watch this movie. Wanted to see it since I saw the trailer and thought that the premise was pretty interesting. “At last”, I thought, “Hollywood has come up with a new idea, rather than just do poor remakes of the great films of yore.” I’m obviously referring to the shitty remake of The Karate Kid. Mr.Miyagi must be turning in his grave!
Finally decided to hire the movie when it came out on DVD (couldn’t get a clear enough copy to download). This happened to be on the same day I bought my new phone with all its Android software and James Bond-like extras.
Naturally, when I started the movie, I spent the occasional couple of minutes looking up at the screen from my phone, which had my full attention since I left the store with it. About 15 to 20min into the movie, around the time I was using one of the apps on my phone to check the weather in Uzbekistan, the movie took a dramatic turn, making me put down the phone and send a “G2G” to my girlfriend who I was chatting with at the time.
What In Time does well is develop the story without explaining every detail of what’s going on or why/how the futuristic society became the way it is. No long voice-overs, no flashbacks. The pace of the movie is great and the acting is decent. Throw in a cool plot and you have a movie good enough to make you ignore the incoming message tone from your phone.
In Time explores the idea of time not only being money but also life. The idea is that each person in the future is born with a “clock” which carries one year of time. This clock starts counting down at the age of 25 or 26 years old (I don’t remember). You go to work, they pay you in time and add extra time to your clock. So now you have a few extra weeks on your clock, depending on your “salary”. This also means that you stay 25 years old until you die (or run out of time).
The main character, played by Justin Timberlake, inherits 100 years from a man who is simply tired of living. If you earn enough time, you can live forever.
Of course a chain of events lead JT to go to the Upper East Side and show the kids from Gossip Girl the error of their ways when he is hunted for his “time”.
Justin Timberlake seems to be getting better at his acting with each movie. It also stars that girl from that ABBA movie where she acted with Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep. But the person who steals the show is “The Time Keeper” brilliantly played by Cillian Murphy in all his creepiness.
I’d say this is very much a guy’s movie with all its car chases, action scenes, hot women and over the top cheesy one-liners. Definitely worth a drive to the video store to get a clear copy.
The Jillybean says:
Within 5 minutes, I was rapt. What had me is undoubtedly one of the most “I think my heart just stopped” movie moments I’ve experienced.
At first I wasn’t sure why Ramzee wanted me to see this movie but then I mentioned it to a group of friends, who then had their own HOO HAH opinions on it.
So, packed out with a buddy of mine, munchies all strategically placed for easy access, we started watching “IN TIME”
Not too sure what to expect, I quickly got settled into one of the best futuristic movie concepts I have seen in a while.
I must admit, at times the acting seemed a bit wishy-washy (though JT plays a brilliant role of Will Salas) but the action packed feast with a spice of love mixed with this appetizing theory, just made this movie freakin awesome!
There is one more thing that simply blew my mind about this flick. If you’re a motor vehicle aficionado and these beauties get you hot under the collar…do watch this. It’s much too yummy not to see what these guys pull out of the vintage collection.
A movie that will definitely make you think twice the next time you want to say “Don’t waste my time”.
Thank you Ramzee. This one was entertaining and was certainly not a waste of my time.
