Timberlakes Latest not a Complete Waste of ‘Time’

By ERIN KENDERISH

Imagine a world where you and I would only age for a few more years. When we reached the age of 25, we would only have a year left to live unless we earned more time. Welcome to the world of “In Time,” a dystopian future where everyone is genetically modified to appear 25-years-old forever, and time is used as currency.

To make things easier, all residents in the world have been divided into “Time Zones” according to their class standing. For instance, in Zone 4, dubbed New Greenwich, residents live for centuries and remain above the troubles of other zones, like Zone 12, were residents are dealing with ever increasing inflation and the countless dead bodies of those who “timed out” are more and more common every day.

“In Time” is the newest film from director Andrew Niccol, also well known for his other future dystopian movies “Gattaca” and “S1m0ne.”

Justin Timberlake stars as Will Salas, a young man who literally lives day-to-day just like his other fellow residents. In his home of Zone 12, having more than a week extra of time means being killed for time faster than you can order a cup of coffee. Within the crazy world of “In Time,” his life is relatively normal until the night he meets New Greenwich resident Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) who has over a century of time on his arm and is boozing around a Zone 12 dive, wishing to die.

Through an exciting series of events, he transfers all but five minutes of his time to a sleeping Will. He leaves the message “don’t waste my time” on the window and then times out before Will can reach him to return the gift. Henry’s death is agreed by the authorities to be unnatural and suspicious so they send a group of Timekeepers (led by Cillian Murphy) to investigate. Will flees to New Greenwich where he encounters Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried), the daughter of one of the richest men in the world. Eventually they join together in a Robin Hood-esque fashion, robbing time banks, giving to the less fortunate and looking good while they do it.

“In Time” is stylish, to say the least. Especially in terms of the costumes, but that is to be expected with Colleen Atwood (“Alice in Wonderland,” “Memoirs of a Geisha”) behind them. My main complaint? Sylvia runs everywhere in 5-inch spike heels.

Also most of the characters are named after watch brands and designers. Clever is this movie’s middle name. While the plot is relatively simple, the way in which it is told keeps you enthralled by this corrupted world and will definitely have you discussing it afterwards. Niccol remains a master at world building, and “In Time” is well worth a watch.

Image courtesy of in-time-movie-trailer.blogspot.com