I’ve always found Andrew Niccol to be an interesting and admirable writer/director.  He’s penned movies like THE TRUMAN SHOW and Steven Spielberg’s THE TERMINAL (which I seemed to like a lot more than most), and sat behind the camera on the fan-favorite GATTACA (a sci-fi tale dealing with genetic perfection), the increasingly probable S1M0NE (about a struggling producer who creates the hottest movie star in Hollywood, that is in actuality a CGI fake), and the little-seen but rather impressive (in my opinion) Nicolas Cage vehicle LORD OF WAR. His latest effort is IN TIME, which stars Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried in a futuristic story about people using time as currency, and a society where no one ages past their 20’s in appearance. There are already justifiable comparisons to GATTACA being made, and while not unfair to assume, this new film is surprisingly one of Niccol’s best overall efforts.

Set in the future, the world’s population are all equipped with a literal body clock, counting down second by second their remaining time before they expire. That time is used to buy anything from food to a bus pass, and just like present day society, there are those with very little and those with way too much. Time can be transferred from person to person, or in some cases even stolen. The story follows Will Salas (Justin Timberlake), a man running out of time living in the “ghetto” area of town. His mother Rachel (Olivia Wilde) is approaching her expiration, and Will can’t even afford to be by her side in her final minutes. In short, life in this part of town sucks, and work quotas and fees are constantly going up. One night while hanging in a bar with his alcoholic friend Borel (Johnny Galecki), Will notices a man named Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) with a century of time on his arm clock, showing off by buying drinks for everyone. It isn’t long before minutemen (time thieves) led by a man named Fortis (Alex Pettyfer) show up to take Henry out… but Will steps in and saves the stranger, hiding him overnight. Hamilton tells Will there’s more time out there, enough for everyone, but it’s in the control of the upper-class. He then asks Will what he’d do if he had Henry’s century of time for himself – Will says “I wouldn’t waste it.” The next morning Salas wakes to find Mr. Hamilton has transferred all of his time over, and left the message “Don’t waste my time” written on the window. Will knows he can’t simply go back on the streets, so he uses his newfound wealth of life to get some new clothes and go undercover in the richest part of the city. Hot on his heels are Timekeepers – essentially police tracking down stolen time. Once there he meets time bank mogul Philippe Weis (MAD MEN‘s Vincent Kartheiser) and his daughter Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried), and at first it looks like this unusual stranger my be fitting in stealthly. But Timekeeper Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy) is hot on Will’s trail, and manages to track him down in his new setting. In a desperate play, Will kidnaps Sylvia and goes on the run. Now with nowhere to turn, and with a spoiled but important hostage, Will must figure out a way to stay out of sight, and hopefully beat the system that has the poor constantly trying to beat the clock.

While IN TIME starts off as a basic sci-fi thriller in an alternate future not terribly different from our own, it’s secretly a very different type of film, and one that takes the audience on a rather exciting ride. Like most of Niccol’s work, there’s a unique visual style present from start to finish, that while not overly-futuristic is just different enough from what we know to be effective. People still drive cars, and while some of those vehicles have a classic body, there are aspects of them that are sleek and believably fantastic. The buildings in the backgrounds aren’t overdone in style or archetecture so as to look somewhat familiar, but still manage to come across at strange and stylish. Rather than going way over the top to sell the futuristic setting, Niccol goes just far enough, which in many ways helps keep the film grounded enough for most to relate to comfortably while still allowing themselve to get lost in the sci-fi storytelling. The concept of time as currency allows for so many clever moments, and many scenes that will give you that “some things never change” chuckle. Perhaps the most effective aspect of the concepts in the film is that they’re not all that farfetched. I often found myself thinking how plausible these scenarios could actually be… perhaps at some point down the line.

The performances are solid without being overdone. Timberlake, hot off of his role in THE SOCIAL NETWORK, does a fine job playing the “man on the run” unlikely hero role, and keeps his character cold and calculating, never pushing for likability but rather focusing on his determination. It’s a centered and basic performance, and it works for the film. Amanda Seyfried goes through the biggest change with her character, at first altering her motives to a surprising degree, but ultimately becoming an interesting twist on the typical heroine in this sort of scenario. Vincent Kartheiser is effectively slimy as the movie’s main baddie, oozing the power hungry rich man qualities you love to hate in these sorts of stories – I expect this will be the beginning of more film roles for the MAD MEN star. Alex Pettyfer is okay as the time-greedy thief, but never really finds a chance to be more than a cartoony villain with little to no real defined motivation… it’s a character that could have been developed much better. Olivia Wilde, while short on screentime, does get a rather memorable and impactful scene, serving a definitive purpose to the story but pratically through a cameo-ish appearance. It’s Cillian Murphy who truly shines as a Lt. Gerard-like lawman constantly chasing down our hero. His determination and dedication to the job makes him a fantastic foil for our protagonists, and a character that’s more enjoyable (like him or hate him) than you’d ever expect he could be.

There’s obvious similarities to films like LOGAN’S RUN, BONNIE AND CLYDE, James Bond movies, and perhaps even THE FUGITIVE, but the style in which Niccol tells the tale makes this a helluva a good time. I found myself enjoying the entire exercise much more than I ever expected to. I completely credit Andrew Niccol (who wrote and directed this) for that too, as he’s consistently proven himself to be a fascinating storyteller. Movies like IN TIME usually end up being forgettable fare and nothing more than an easy way to waste a few hours… but this is more than that. This is fun. This is a popcorn flick you can see with your friends and enjoy the heck out of. This is a sci-fi movie that never tries to hard to be a sci-fi movie, it just pulls it off in a smart way. I hope people give this a chance, as there’s solid entertainment going on here, and in this day of sequels and remakes we need all the original moviegoing we can find.

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