IN TIME

IN TIME

In 1976 "Logan's Run" presented a future where, people lived idyllic lives doing whatever they wanted and enjoying all the pleasures of life until they reached the age of 30. Once they reached 30, they had to turn them selves in for termination. Well, not exactly, thye got to play a fatal game called carousel which almost always ended in them get pureed.

There were those who defied the law and ran. they were called runners and were chased by guys called sandmen whose job it was to kill them on sight. That kept the population even, etc.

"In Time", the new film by writer/director Andrew Niccol, borrows elements of "Logan's Run" and blends in various concepts from other futuristic film including "Judge Dredd", "Blade Runner", Demolition Man" and even an episode or two of the old Star Trek.

Justin Timberlake is Will Salas, he lives with his drop dead gorgeous mother Rachel (Olivia Wilde) who is 50, or 25 for the 25th time. You see in there time, the human body has been genetically engineered to stop aging at 25; the aging gene has been switched off. Teh catch is you only get one more year to live because that's when your built in death clock runs out.

Like "Logan's Run", the clock is built in to the body and appears as a digital readout under the skin of you forearm. It is constantly counting down.

You life depends on minutes. Time is the new currency. For example, a bus ride cost one hour. A phone call cost one minute. Passage to a more upscale neighborhood costs up to a year. A mint Jaguar costs 10 years. You can give your time to someone, you can get time from someone. The wealthy have lots of time, the poor have very little time. In the ghetto, where Will lives, time can be stolen.

As it would happen, Rachel runs out of time when the bus ride normally costing one hour, suddenly costs two. Will can not get to her in time to save her (by giving him some of his time) and she dies. Will wants revenge and gets it in the form of a gift from a very wealthy man named Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) with over 116 years on him who has wandered into the ghetto. He has a death wish and Will prevents that death when he saves the guy from marauding hoods who steal time. The man, as a thank you, gives Will his 116 years and ends his life.

But this act of kindness is treated as an act of theft by the Time Keepers led by Timekeeper Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy). He wants the time back and will stop at nothing to track down Will.

Will, in the meantime, crosses over into Greenwich where the rich people live to get more time. He winds up attached to the renegade daughter (Amanda Seyfried as Sylvia Weis) of one of the wealthiest men in the world (Vincent Kartheiser as Phillipe Weis).

They team up on a non-stop run from the Timekeepers and the street thugs all while selling and buying time.

The story, though only original in the way the various concepts are blended, is well-paced and imaginative just like most of Niccols films have been [See Gattaca and Lord of War]. He makes good use of old cars simply by painting them matte black and giving them nifty whirring sound effects like souped-up Priuses.

Timberlake and Seyfried work well together while Murphy comes off like the next Agent Smith [from "The Matrix]. This is every bit the fantastical ride that "Logan's Run" was if not more so.

"In Time" is a non-stop sci-fi actioner with just the right amount of social commentary to appease the Occupy Wall Street participants. -- GEOFF BURTON

GEOFF BURTON

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