“In Time” is one of the more irritating brands of bad movie. The film has a highly intriguing premise and a pair of attractive and convincing lead performers; it also has plot holes you could drive truck through.
Pretty for Life
Justin Timberlake is the star of In Time. As Mark Salas, Mr. Timberlake is man with little time to spare. In the future, human beings are genetically bred to stop aging at 25 years old. Once you hit 25 however, a genetically implanted clock begins to countdown.
Money in this future has been replaced by time. Each citizen is given one year to spend beginning on their 25th birthday but they can earn more time by working in factories. Not everyone has to work however; some are born into eons of time as a family inheritance.
One Good Deed
The plot of In Time kicks in when Will meets Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer, White Collar). Henry is 105 years old after having been born to a family fortune. After so many years he still has more than a century on his clock but he’s grown tired of living.
When Will saves Henry during a bar fight the two end up spending an evening discussing time and the way those that have time use it to manipulate those who don’t. When Will awakens the following morning Henry has given him his time and disappeared to die.
Time Literally on His Hand
After a tragedy strikes Will’s family, he makes the decision to use his new found time, literally time on his hand (Ha!), to destroy the time management system. To do this he travels to New Greenwich, a rich suburb where those with endless amounts of time live and avoid the shame of watching others fall dead in the streets after losing time.
As Will’s scheme is revealed he is chased by Timekeeper Leon (Cillian Murphy) who will doggedly pursue him throughout his revolutionary journey. Joining Will, at first not by choice, is Sylvia Weis, the daughter of Phillippe Weis (Vincent Kartheiser), a centuries old man with seemingly all the time in the world.
Will takes Sylvia hostage but we aren’t surprised when she and Will begin to fall in love and slowly morph into Bonnie & Clyde turned Robin Hood criminals who steal time from the rich and give it to the poor.
Occupy Time
The premise of “In Time” is solid and Justin Timberlake is highly compelling in only his second lead role. Andrew Niccols directs In Time to Timberlake’s strengths, playing up his charm before allowing JT to begin flexing his muscles in gun battles and chase scenes.
“In Time” has a timely premise, arriving at a time when the divide between the richest 1% in America are at odds with the other 99%; you could almost expect a movement in the movie to ‘Occupy Time.’ Sadly the film was completed well before the occupy protests began.
Stuck in a Plot-hole
Unfortunately, as intriguing and timely as “In Time” is, the film has pair of logical fallacies so large that they undermine the movie as a whole. To describe these plot holes would reveal far too much about the film. All I will say is that the plot holes are fat and obvious and they render the film, especially the ending, ludicrous. For me, this makes In Time worse than most other bad movies because “In Time” isn’t really a bad movie; it’s one that squanders its goodness with bad choices.
If you are a fan of Justin Timberlake or Amanda Seyfried you may as well go ahead and give “In Time” a chance. If not, the plot holes render “In Time” barely worthy of a rental.