Westside Steve Posted November 20, 2011 Report Share Posted November 20, 2011 In Time 20th Century Fox PG 13 109 min Sometimes you can take a story that’s been told a thousand times and still wring some fun out of it. THE THREE MUSKETEERS was one of those. Other times you can take a fairly fresh and innovative idea and completely miss the mark. That’s what happened with IN TIME. At first glance one might have a déjà vu bringing up memories of BLADE RUNNER or LOGANS RUN, but it’s soon apparent that those comparisons are slim. Yes it’s a futuristic and dystopian view of the world and yes it has to something to do with time. The idea is that somewhere in the future, a long time I’m guessing, some evil entrepreneur has figured out a way to give and take time from human beings. You are issued one year to live after the age of 25. It’s given in increments of hours and minutes to use as you will. Since people now are paid (and pay) in this way, time actually is money. Everyone has a glowing credit balance that glows on the forearm to let the world know just how long it will be before you die. Out of time out of luck. Hours can be traded stolen bought sold or gambled. Oh one more thing. You get this Day-Glo debit account when you turn 25 years of old and from that moment on you’ll look 25 for as long as you live. What this means is that the rich (hey everybody hates the rich nowadays) can live as long as they care to while the proletariat back in the poor zones struggle to make do with the one measly year. Got it? Did you catch the not so subtle political sermon? Good. Justin Timberlake (yeah I know) is Will Salas who, after his mom runs out of time running to meet him, takes on a quest to bring this evil system to its knees. The main bad guys are the Timekeepers, some Nazi inspired police and of course the kajillionaire that created the evil empire. By the way his rebellious daughter Sylvia is the Maid Marian to Timberlake’s Robin Hood. Make sense? Hell no but hey, it’s called science fiction for a reason. So I’m on board and at least partly interested in the weird setup. Well it’s not long before little things start to bother me. First since we’re set in a society so advanced that this life for time technology can be zapped into every citizen, why then are they still deriving what seems to be 1965 Chryslers? And one might wonder why the future still looks like Cleveland? And how can Sylvia the female lead (Amanda Seyfried) run at full sprint wearing six inch spike heels? To be honest the bizarre plot didn’t bother me as much as the cheesy effects, bad acting, clumsy dialog, and ham handed socialist message. Post script: I read that author Harlan Ellison who wrote “Repent Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman” filed a plagiarism suit against the producers of IN TIME. I suggest that the revered Mr. Ellison may not want his name associated with this dog. I promised Nick, at the Lake Cinema ticket counter (who loved it) that I’d blame him if I didn’t. Sorry Nick. C- WSS Email westsidesteve@aol.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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