A waste of time

MOST people have heard the phrase ‘time is money’, but what if that were literally true, what effect would that have on society and humanity as a whole?

In Time delves deep into that very intriguing question, albeit in a painfully slow way.

In a world where time is the new currency, the rich live forever and the poor have to toil, scam and kill for every extra minute.

When you reach 25-years-old, a clock on your arm begins ticking away and you have a year to live, unless you earn, steal or scam more time.

A cup of coffee costs four minutes (ironic since it takes longer than that to let it cool down enough to drink), a bus ride costs an hour and the classes are segregated by ‘numerical ‘zones’.

Those with all the time live in zone 1 and those with mere minutes are packed into zone 7, a slum where people drop dead like flies in the street. The poor, of course, are slaves to time: many die young and stay pretty, and are preyed on by time bandits called Minute Men, who clean clocks at gunpoint.

Enter Will (Timberlake) a young man in zone 7 who has a week left to live. Despite his lack of ‘funds’ he’s still really generous and gives his time to friends and family, believing that all one really needs is a day.

After a chance encounter with a suicidal millionaire who has an entire century, Will wakes up to find the mystery man has given him all of his time ... and ‘timed out’ (died) as a result. It turns out when you have all the time in the world and can potentially live forever … you get bored.

With his newfound wealth, Will decides to help out some old friends and move to zone 1 to begin his new life. Unfortunately, the timekeepers (police) led by Raymond Leon (Murphy) believe he killed the generous stranger to steal the time and now they’re hot on his trail.

In his new zone, Will meets Philippe Weis, a wealthy businessman who challenges him to a high stakes game of poker, and of course, they’re playing for time. After winning another century from Philippe, Will meets his daughter Sylvia (Seyfried) and is besotted with her.

The two hit it off right away, but just as things are looking up for Will, the timekeepers show up and demand he hand over the time he ‘stole’.

Will and Sylvia flee back to zone 7 to try and put things right but on the way they’re stopped by Minute Men and robbed of almost all their time.

For Sylvia it’s a new experience to live minute to minute and the pair are forced to steal time to keep them alive for the rest of the day.

I’m all for versatility in life and I believe that multi-tasking is a necessity in this day and age. However, some ‘musicians’ such as Timberlake would be wise to stick to their day jobs and leave acting to, well, real actors.

It’s not that he does a profoundly bad job with his role; I just feel it would have been better suited to someone like Johnny Depp, who brings that something extra to the part.

It’s a shame when poor casting and tacky dialogue get in the way of a potentially great film with a fresh and fascinating premise.
Since I consider myself to be a ‘glass half full’ type of guy, I’m willing to admit that this movie has its merits.

There’s an interesting futuristic Robin Hood allusion that compliments the tone of the movie. It also manages to detract from the blatant Bonnie and Clyde simile that has been utilised in countless other films and used to greater effect.

Seyfried played her part well and was believable as a billionaire heiress who suddenly finds herself slumming it in the ghetto. Ironically, the plot doesn’t allow enough time to expand on her character’s history, which is a real shame.
 
If time did indeed cost money, this film would no doubt be considered a bit of a rip-off.

Showing in Dana Cineplex