Well-explored idea, solid movie.

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2012)

Due to a bit of a dearth of sci-fi releases around the release of 'In Time', I think it will unfortunately be labelled a sci-fi flick that never held down enough sci-fi to grip fans of the genre. It's in the future, yes, and it creates a new concept for humanity, but I would only put it on the sci-fi shelf along with Equilibrium, Minority Report etc. A near-future, "wouldn't it be terrible if..." kind of a setting.
The main draw of the movie is its concept. That of perfected capitalism, where money has been done away with and instead people are faced with the choice of living long but frugal lives, or living to the full and dying very young.
The result is plausibly shown as somewhere in the middle, and whilst the true capitalist fat cats at the top are basically immortal, the majority get by from day to day, month to month, as we do anyway in our time.
What I like about In Time is how it sticks to its concept and really explores it. I thought I had grasped the idea early on and thought 'ok got it, now get on with the movie' - but what it does is constantly throw up new ways in which this system might affect your life, and (hopefully) in ways you hadn't thought of.
Timberlake has proved himself an actor in this movie, and I was pleasantly surprised by that. Seyfried is also very likable in her role and plays the part well. Cillian Murphy is again excellent, and I would love for a director to hire him in a really challenging lead part so we can see his true potential.
Overall, In Time covers a lot of bases, different audiences will take different things from it. Some futuristic shenanigans, some relieving fast-paced action scenes, some tense set-ups and a good idea that runs through all of it. The plot might not grip you for the duration but at least it never goes totally AWOL.
7/10 and well worth a watch.