Nice Idea, bit of a let-down.

Rating: 4/10 (11 April 2013)

I was really surprised when I just discovered this was the same director as Gattaca. I love that film and would never have guessed this was the same director. It's not that this was bad - I really like the idea - just felt the execution lacked something. It needed more imaginative cinematography, sharper style, and a better story to my mind.
While I normally like Timberlake, I found him a little awkward in this part. I don't find him convincing in tough guy/action roles somehow. Some of the action scenes felt like watching kids playing at James Bond. Cillian Murphy's obviously a great actor, though his part just wasn't big enough to let him shine. The other actors were mostly OK, though didn't care for the bad guy much. I think casting was maybe this film's Achilles' heal.
Also, when the film started I thought it was a real breath of fresh air that the 2 people on the run were both men, thus avoiding the tediously overdone, romance-on-the-run cliché. Of course I was wrong and they ended up totally embracing the age-old cliché. I'm so sick of certain Hollywood clichés like that. It's just lazy and cowardly IMHO. And that's not a sexuality thing by the way - purely an interest in intelligent film-making.
Oh and I had a bit of a problem with the big digital clock display on everyone's forearm - seemed like a rather clumsy in-your-face solution to a delicate problem to me! Yeah I know - "shut up, it's just a movie".
Like I say this is by *no means* a bad movie, I just felt they could have done *much* more with the idea, and I personally expected better from that director. Some of the acting brought it down too.