In Time
Director: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Olivia Wilde and Amanda Seyfried
***
This is a film that asks, "What if time were literally money?" In Time is set in a future where the ageing gene is turned off, which halts everyone's age at 25.
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Characters are able to use units of time as currency with work giving you more time that can be taken away for goods and services - therefore, the rich can be ageless, while the poor are on borrowed time. A struggling man named Will (Timberlake) is framed for murder when he inherits a fortune of time from a wealthy man who turns up dead. He must work out why he was framed and find a way to stop the various dark forces on his tail.
Just like his 1998 debut the Gattaca, director Niccol once again delves into a dystopian future where our genes are spliced to make us forever beautiful (or young, at least). The results aren't as bad this time around, with the thriller proving to be a diverting and intriguing couple of hours - if just a little bleak.
Timberlake, as with many of his recent performances, is likeable and engaging as the lead, but he heads a cast (including Seyfried and Wilde) that is nice to look at, but not terribly deep - not unlike the whole of the film itself. Entertaining, but perhaps too polished to be anything other than a high-concept studio movie.
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