Standard chase thriller that isn't that well done and doesn't seem interested in its own message

Rating: Null/10 (15 April 2012)

In Time starts strong. The idea here is that time literally is money as it has become the currency of the world – those that make time (the rich) can in theory life forever as they have loads of time on their hands (literally as the clocks are embedded on their wrists); by contrast the poor life day to day, working to keep time on their clocks for as long as possible. As an allegory for money and the contrast between rich and poor in our world, it is a clever one and it offered the potential for quite a smart piece of sci-fi – I was hoping that it could keep the "ideas" coming while delivering an enjoyable thriller as well.
Unfortunately it doesn't really do either of these things and while i hoped it would get cleverer and more engaging as it played out, the reality was that it did the opposite – getting sillier, less thrilling and less interested in the ideas it had originally. Early on we have plenty of good things – the death of a character is impacting and little things like rich people doing nothing at speed etc are clever observations within this world. However, once Will goes on the run with Slyvia the film takes a dramatic downward turn. Funnily enough this section of the film also marks a low point for special effects too as it features a car crash which is done with hilariously bad model-work. At this point the film becomes some sort of Bonnie & Clyde thriller and it suddenly loses interest in many of the things it had been doing well up till that point.
In terms of the thriller content, this means that the air of desperation and the air of vulnerability that was in the film early on just evaporates and suddenly Will is an action hero who cannot be stopped. It is a shame because without this atmosphere a lot of the action is exposed for what it is – rather silly and basic. Harder for me to take though is that the film loses interest in the message it is delivering – what we have here is basically a film rallying against the world of capitalism and stating that it is only fair that those with the time share it fairly among those without rather than hoarding more than they need. A fairly brave message but by the time we get to that at the end, the film doesn't seem to be convincing even itself and it seems more interested in getting cool shots of our characters with guns and creating false dramatic moments of running and clock-beating. It is a real shame that the intelligence went out of it – and the lack of strong thrills and ideas means that you end up thinking about other things in this world and picking holes in them.
The cast list is young but decent. Timberlake gave me pause but he is actually pretty good and it is a shame that the second half of the film gives him nothing to do. Seyfield is oddly pretty but her character makes less than no sense and she cannot sell it to herself far less us. Murphy is always watchable and his presence deserves more than he got – in particular his final scene in the film is poorly done. The supporting cast is an odd mix of TV faces that you'll recognise from things like House, Mad Men and White Collar – none of them bad, but like the main players, the material isn't there for them in most cases.
A good one-line idea of a film then. I was hoping it could be thrilling and smart but in the end it wasn't really either as it descends into a Bonnie & Clyde scenario that doesn't make much sense and doesn't play out convincingly. While it does this it also stops caring about the message it is rolling out – by the end it seems like the ideas in the script are just an inconvenience getting in the way of the simple thriller the film is trying to focus on. Distracting but disappointing.