In Time

Rating: 7/10 (17 October 2012)

"In Time" is a quintessential left-wing film which shrewdly exploits the Occupy Wall Street movement phenomena which gripped the United States at that time. This film finds a clever way to underscore how close the poor are to dying of poverty by creating characters with biological clocks who die once they run out of hours and minutes on those clocks. The only way not to run out of time and avoid death is to take out loans or work for low wages. So the strong impression one gets throughout this film is that the poor are always on the edge of subsistence.
As for the plot of the film, it's essentially a simple version of Robin Hood. Without giving too much of the plot away, the hero Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) eventually joins forces with Sylvia Weiss (Amanda Seyfried) in order to steal from the rich in order to give to the poor. Yet strangely enough, "In Time" ends up playing much better than it should largely because of the charismatic screen presence of Justin Timberlake. Timberlake is much more than just an appealing pop singer; he's also a talented actor. Although he is not given much to work with, Timberlake succeeds in making Will Salas an entertaining bad boy with a heart of gold who takes to the Robin Hood lifestyle like a fish to water. Another actor who injects some life into this formulaic film is the much under-appreciated Cillian Murphy. Murphy does not play a cardboard villain, but instead reveals something insightful about the psychology of an extremist. Like many extremes, Murphy's Raymond Leon (which reminds me of the police officer in Les Miserables) believes unquestioningly in the righteousness of his cause -- which is to make sure that the existing social hierarchy is preserved and that time never enters into the wrong hands.