A Waste Of Time

Rating: 2/10 (4 April 2013)

It amazes me how many people think this film is original. I can think of quite a few films (All better) than this: "Bonnie Clyde", "Logan's Run" and Les Miserables" are obvious, but you also see "The Chase" with Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson (The poor outlaw (Sheen) kidnaps rich daddy's girl (Swanson), and she becomes an outlaw herself), "V For Vendetta" and even "Son of Dracula" ( Where Katherine Caldwell (Louise Allbritton) was willing do anything (Including sacrificing her sweetie, Frank Stanley (Robert Paige)), in order to get immortality. This theme was also shown in "Death Becomes Her" (With Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn & Bruce Willis). That said, there were only three ways to make the film work none of which were the theme this film: 1: A comedy. 2: An action film. 3: Suspense. What was also needed was an enemy that is really evil like Damon Killian (Richard Dawson) in "The Running Man." Although Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy) was the antagonist of the film, he was not really bad. The father (Phillipe Weis), could have been, but he showed himself to be a quitter (Unlike say, Dalton Voss (Ray Wise), Swanson's evil father in "The Chase")), which is true like just about everyone else except (Leon (The best one in the film), Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried), and of course, Will Sales (Justin Timberlake)). Spoilers: The ending of the film with Timekeeper Jaeger (Collins Pennie), telling everyone to "Just go home" after Leon dies, is like the poor accepting death throughout the film, basically accepting things the way they are instead of fighting back. I admit just before this film, I watched "Snow White and The Huntsman", another film that dealt with others dying so a chosen few can live, so I could make a fair comparison. Basically, "Snow White & the Huntsman" (Although it has a quite different theme and setting), was a superior film. More action, more humor, a much better villain (The Queen (Charlize Theron)), and everything else (Particularly the lack of thought into the environment of the film: The "Casino Royale" ripoff card game, the bland cop cars, and failure to use proper colors in the movie are just a few). There is one exception: Amanda is hotter than Kristen Stewart "Snow White"). You get the point, this is not my favorite film, and a waste of time. 2 of 10 stars