Dir: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Justin
Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy
The
director of GATTACA brings us a new
high concept science fiction action film. In the future, people are genetically
engineered to stop aging at 25. However, when they reach this age a timer
starts on their arm. The conceit is that time literally is money and people
work to earn time and buy things using time but once the clock on their arm
runs out, they die. Justin Timberlake is Will Salas, a man who has to work
every day to stay alive. After he saves a rich man, Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer),
from gangsters, Henry gives Will over 100 years of time before committing
suicide. Will lives as part of the rich
elite before trying to spread the wealth of the world more evenly while being
pursued by Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy), a timekeeper, who believes he has
murdered Henry for his time.
The
film’s most interesting point is its central idea. The world is fully thought out and realistic to
the premise. There are various setting details which end up becoming part of
the plot such as the church which gives out time to poor people and the arm
wrestling game where people fight over time and which can end up in death,
which help create a realistic world. The dialogue also reflects the world in
which there is no money, only time and it is these details which makes it the
best and most fun aspect of the film.
The
film casts an eye to the economic problems at the moment. It depicts the poor
people living day to day, having to work hard for another days worth of time
just to do it all again the next day only to survive. In the mean time the cost
of living keeps on rising. However, in the rich districts, the people who have
plenty of time, live the good life, and never run because they all have so much
time they never need to. The rich keep the prices in the poor districts rising
so that they end up running out of time and the rich can stay in time. The
recent 99% protests in America and other countries around the world reflect in
Will’s attempt to change the economy of the world he lives in, attempting to
redistribute the wealth of the rich back to the poor.
The
film runs in to several problems. Some of the acting is awkward, particularly
Justin Timberlake, previously so good in The
Social Network, and Amanda Seyfried playing the dull rich girl Sylvia Weis.
Also as the film opens up, gaping plot holes begin to show which are very
difficult to over look. It is a shame that such laziness has occurred in the
story telling when the setting has been so well thought out. The romance
between Will and Sylvia is obvious and ridiculously quick as she falls madly in
love with him after having known him for 4 hours in which time he held a gun to
her head, kidnapped her and almost killed her in a car crash. You won’t care
about the characters by the end, only hoping that the time really would run out
soon.
The
biggest problem with the film is its plotting. For a film about a lack of time
it meanders aimlessly. Once Will gains all the time we are never really sure
what he intends to do with it, we are led to believe that he will use it for
good but the film bumbles around before attempting to make him into a Robin
Hood figure which never really works. The film drags on, traipsing about so
that your attention fades from the numbers counting down on the characters
forearms to the watch strapped around your own wrist. The film has too many
loose plot strands. Will is pursued by a gangster from the poor district and
the time keepers from the rich district but while the gangster is the more
interesting and fun character he is sidelined, only to pop up a couple of times
while the focus is kept on the dull timekeepers.
An
interesting concept is wasted in a film populated with dodgy acting, plot holes
and directionless plotting. A disappointment when there is such an interesting
idea to be used.
2 out of 5 Buttons
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