THE FILM:
There is a scene about midway through writer/producer/director Andrew Niccol’s science fiction thriller IN TIME that is a cute little throwaway gag, meant to relieve all of the tension our characters have just been through, but resonated with me all through the rest of the movie. Our heroes, Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) and Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried), are on the run from persistent timekeeper Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy) and are finally getting a little break from the running and shooting and car chasing. As they sit in the back of their futuristic stolen limo they see themselves for the first time on television, the news report branding them wanted fugitives. Sylvia looks at their side by side mug shots on the screen and perkily chimes “We make a cute couple!” While this innocent little tension breaker is funny, this levity Sylvia has throughout all the action and drama is also the key problem with IN TIME as a film. It’s really hard to suspend disbelief and take any of it seriously.
Roughly 150 years from now, scientists will have discovered a way to make people young (and apparently beautiful) forever. By altering everyone’s DNA the aging process will stop for you when you reach 25 years old. After that, the bright green digital life clock imbedded in your arm will tell you exactly how much time you have left to live. Once it reached all zeros, you instantly fall over dead. Money is no longer currency in this future world; time has replaced it and you are paid and buy everything with time from your life clock. Needless to say the rich live forever and the poor struggle to literally live day by day. Will Salas lives in Dayton, one of the poor “time zones,” with his mother (Olivia Wilde) working with their life clocks always reading a day or so left for them. One night Will saves a man in a bar from having his century plus life clock stolen by the local gang members. The man is from New Greenwich (where the rich and immortal live) and is tired of his extended existence. He gives all his time to Will before happily expiring, telling him to use it well. How Will uses his new found freedom is to live the high life before ultimately getting on the road to bringing this twisted society down.
The concept of time, your life, as currency is pretty esoteric. It would make for an excellent premise in a novel (just ask Harlan Ellison) but as the premise of an action/thriller movie? Not so much. Everyone in this film world is obsessed with the numbers on their arms. Everything revolves around it; every conversation references it; most every building has something to do with it. And it all exists visually as a digital watch. If this premise actually did exist, it would probably be all encompassing but the drama of telling a story would depend greatly on the individual situation of the characters and how they deal with it. It would be internalized, mental and personal; something a novel would be able to explore to the nth degree. In a movie it comes across as much ado about a digital watch. No matter how serious and weighty our cast and director try to make it, it just comes across looking silly as a movie.
THE DISC:
Regardless of the movie itself, this is one spectacular looking transfer. I’ll put the anamorphic 2.35 picture up against anything else on Blu-ray right now. Incredible color saturation, shadow detail is strikingly sharp and the overall clarity is as good as it gets. This is a show disc on the picture front.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix also rates high marks, though just under the ear-popping praise of the picture. Directional effects are decent if not quite used as much as they could have been. Fidelity is excellent and the overall sound is rich and full. Nothing really to complain about here.
THE EXTRAS:
And we’re back to the content on this disc. The supplements are not only light; they are also silly and inconsequential.
First up is a weird… mockumentary (?)… fake documentary (?) called “The Minutes.” The entire main cast appears here in character being interviewed about the concept of immortality and how time-as-currency came about. It’s… I don’t know WHAT it is supposed to be, but it isn’t worth the 15 or so minutes it takes to get through it.
Ten “Deleted Scenes” mostly amount to nothing.
The original Theatrical Trailer finishes up the goodies.
MY SAY:
While high in concept, the premise of IN TIME just doesn’t translate well to a cinematic venue. If you are fans of Justin and Amanda, it’s still only worth a rental.
