Just about what it should be, and lives up to realistic expectations

Rating: 7/10 (11 December 2011)

Will(Timberlake) lives in a different world than us. Since it's barely futuristic at all, I'd say it's more appropriate to refer to it as an alternate reality than merely something set years from now. In it, time is the only currency(and this point is hammered home... one thing is that the word replaces the word "money", but there are painful puns on that, where the meaning of common phrases are turned into something else, such as how here, "do you have a minute" is the equivalent to "spare some change". The points made are great, the communication could sometimes use some work. Niccol's biggest flaw is that he tends to overwrite scripts when he has something to say, and the conveying gradually loses subtlety... with that said, there are bits where it is spot-on, and the ending of this is fantastic), you do not age beyond 25(leading to a world where most people are supermodels... to be fair, the film itself does poke fun at this aspect) at which moment your life will only have one additional year, and you can now earn more by labor(and don't expect to be able to pay debts, taxes and the like and have much at all left for yourself or your family). The metaphor is entirely clear, and not only does this this fit nearly perfectly with the current Occupy movement, some of the better of the plenty of good, quotable dialog in this lends itself to slogans for it. Our hero does go on to fight the wealthy elite, who do not enjoy their lives because they're worried about losing what they have, so they take no chances. Some of the logic and consistency is a tad iffy. He is joined by rich girl wanting to break free from her sheltered existence, Sylvia(Seyfried), and they do the Robin Hood thing. While the inclusion of a romance between the two is predictable, the execution isn't bad. The characters are memorable and their arcs tend to be convincing. This has some of the shallow Hollywood standards going, with the poor being largely honorable and doing little wrong(if it does admit that a lot of crime happens in the ghetto... however, this feels like it's blaming those in power for creating that situation, which is true a lot of the way... still, no one is that black and white), and, well, you can guess how the other side is portrayed. I like that our main cop, Leon(Murphy), is clearly a person of integrity, he's not drunk on power. The acting is impressive. This is the first thing I see Justin in, and I would like to see other movies starring him. Though the action is somewhat derivative and uninspired not to mention in very brief stints(Andrew is not comfortable with the genre, and I support him sticking with what he does well, see what immediately follows this parenthesis), this gets quite intense. There is a little moderate language(one strong, as per what the PG-13 rating allows... and it's placed so well), mild violence and somewhat disturbing sights(when your clock runs out, you collapse from a heart attack) in this. I recommend this to anyone who cares about the current political and financial situation, as well as fans of thought-provoking thrillers. 7/10