Review: In Time

Amanda Seyfried and Justin Timberlake in In Time. Photo: 20th Century Fox

I'd love to start off this review with a cheesy time pun like "time is literally money in In time", but that would be disrespectful to director Andrew Niccol who obviously went headfirst for the task of cramming every possible time pun into a 140 minute movie.

In Time is set in a future where everyone's life is dictated by a ticking internal clock - displayed on your arm like a tacky matrix tattoo - which kills you once it hits zero. The only comfort you've got while you earn, steal or have some transfer extra time to you, is that you stop ageing at 25. At the center of this is Will Salas (Justin Timberlake), a good-willing hard worker from the ghetto, who sets out to shake up the system of "the rich lives forever on the expense of the poor" after his mother (Olivia Wilde, yeah really) is cruelly "timed-out".

As much as I love a truly original story idea, I hate being projected far-fetched situations such as a helpless female lead running around in 6 inch heels as if they were a pair of Nike air. The helpless female lead in this case being Sylvia Weis the rebellious rich man's daughter, portrayed by Mamma Mia star Amanda Seyfried who merely convinces us that Sylvia has any guts at all or any facial expressions for that matter.

Timberlake doesn't really meet the Sean Parker standards with his Will Salas neither being rough enough nor affectionate enough. The only one who's leaving this flick with a gold star is Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser. The 32-year-old is impeccably frightenining as Sylvia's 90-year-old aristocrat father.

Apart from time puns, the script (which is written by Niccol) also has a ridiculous amount of oneliners. Only 20 minutes into the movie and the audience have heard enough dowdy oneliners to make 24 Bond movies - leaving the dialogue extremely bleak and cringe worthy.

Despite running out of steam half way and having a pathetic fart as an ending, the concept of In Time together with scattered acting talent (having not mentioned Cillian Murphy, Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki and Matt Bomer) is still impressive enough to be worth a Wednesday evening trip to the cinema.