Time is money

Rating: 8/10 (4 July 2017)

This sci-fi thriller is set in a future where people have been genetically engineered to stop aging when they reach the age of twenty five. After that they have one year left on a clock which displays how much time they have left. They can earn more time but everything they need to buy costs time. This means that the rich can live forever if they avoid danger but the poor don't live long at all. It is also frighteningly easy to steal time some any ghetto-dweller with more than a few days on their clock is likely to be robbed.
The story starts with a wealthy man, with over a century left, going into a bar in a poor area and buying everybody a drink. Local man Will Salas warns him that he is likely to attract the wrong sort of attention and have all his remaining time stolen. It turns out that was his plan; not everybody wants to live forever. The two escape together and later on, as Will sleeps, he gives him almost all of his time before heading off to die. Will wakes but as he when he goes to share some of his luck with his mother he is too late; her clock runs out just before they meet. He determines to overthrow the system so uses his new found time to head to the rich area. Here he gains much more time in a poker game. The authorities have noticed his sudden increase in wealth, and suspect he must have stolen it, so the 'Time Keepers' are sent to arrest him. He manages to escape, taking Sylvia Weis, the daughter of one of the wealthiest men, with him. With the Time Keepers in pursuit they flee to the ghetto where most of their time is soon stolen. They must find a way to gain more before Will, with his new accessory, can set about destabilising the system. There are unexpected consequences though; as he gives time away thefts rise and not everybody can deal with their newfound wealth.
This is an unusual thing; a dystopian sci-fi that is more thrilling that depressing. That isn't to say that the central premise isn't quite dark. The idea of time literally being money is quite dark; the poor are literally living day to day; if they don't get more they will die. Also they aren't depicted as the 'noble poor'; they are desperate and many will resort to theft or can't deal with unexpected wealth. Of course the rich come across as worse as they live potentially endless but boring lives at the expense of the poor. In this setting we get an exciting thriller; Justin Timberlake does a solid job as Will Salas and Amanda Seyfried is fun as Sylvia; the rich girl who joins his cause faster than you can say 'Patty Hearst'; they have a good chemistry. Cillian Murphy also impresses as the Time Keeper leading the operation to catch Salas. There is a fair amount of impressive action and there is plenty of tension as we can literally see peoples' final seconds ticking away. Overall I enjoyed this far more than I expected and would definitely recommend it to fans of the genre.