In Time

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In Time
In Time poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Andrew Niccol
Written byAndrew Niccol
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Roger Deakins
Edited by Zach Staenberg
Music by Craig Armstrong
Production
companies
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
Running time
109 minutes [3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40 million [4]
Box office$174 million [5]

In Time is a 2011 American science fiction action film written, co-produced, and directed by Andrew Niccol. Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried star as inhabitants of a dystopian future, that uses time as its primary currency; each individual possessing a subdermal tatoo-like, countdown, digital clock on their right forearm. Cillian Murphy, Vincent Kartheiser, Olivia Wilde, Matt Bomer, Johnny Galecki, and Alex Pettyfer costar. The film was released on October 28, 2011, and grossed $174 million against a $40 million budget. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the premise while criticizing its execution. [6] [7]

Contents

Plot

In 2169, people are genetically engineered to stop aging on their 25th birthday, when a one-year countdown on their forearm begins. When it reaches zero, the person "times out" and dies instantly. Time has thus become the universal fiat currency, transferred directly between people or stored on flashdrive type devices, some in secure bank vaults. Distinct socioeconomic caste "Time Zones" exist; Dayton is the poorest, a manufacturing hub and "ghetto" where people rarely have over 24 hours on their clocks, whereas in New Greenwich, the affluent Zone of plutocrats, people have enough time to be essentially immortal.

Will Salas (Timberlake) is a 28-year-old Dayton factory worker who lives with his mother, Rachel. One night, he rescues a drunken 105-year-old Henry Hamilton, from Fortis and his Minutemen gangsters, a group of time-robbing thugs. Hamilton, who has 116 years on his clock, reveals to Will that the people of New Greenwich hoard most of the time, while constantly increasing prices to impoverish people in less prosperous districts. The next morning, he transfers all but 5 minutes of his time to a sleeping Will, then times out before Will can stop him. Raymond Leon, the leader of police-like "Timekeepers", erroneously assumes Will robbed Hamilton.

Heeding his friend Borel's warning against possessing excess time in Dayton, Will donates 10 years (the length of their friendship) to him before departing, planning to relocate to New Greenwich with Rachel. However, that night, Rachel suddenly finds herself with insufficient bus fare to return to Dayton, having exhausted her earnings from two days' work in the Garment District to liquidate a two-day loan. The ambivalent driver advises her to run, but she arrives a few seconds too late for Will to rescue her and times out in his arms. The next morning, he furiously decides to avenge her death by visiting New Greenwich, internalizing Hamilton's words regarding the inequity of the Time System.

Arriving in New Greenwich in style, Will meets Philippe Weis, a time-loaning businessman, and his daughter Sylvia at a casino. While playing poker, Will nearly times out but eventually wins a millennium in a game of poker. Sylvia invites him to a party that night at her father's. Will then purchases a classic Jaguar E-Type convertible for 59 years of his time (plus tax, the salesman tells him) and drives it to the party. Will dances with Sylvia and convinces her to swim in the ocean, something that, out of fear, the rich never do. Timekeepers later arrive and detain Will, who claims his innocence in Hamilton's death. Rather than attempting to prove Will's guilt, Raymond simply confiscates all but two hours of Will's time, explaining it does not belong in Dayton.

Will escapes, taking Sylvia hostage and driving back to Dayton in the Jag. Fortis's gang sets up a roadblock which causes Will to crash into a flood control channel, knocking them unconscious. The gang arrives and steals most of their time, leaving Will and Sylvia with only 30 minutes each. They abandon the wrecked car and visit Borel's residence to retrieve some spare time but, his wife Greta tearfully explains that he has drunk himself to death. As their time is running out, the two obtain a day each by pawning Sylvia's diamond earrings. Will then calls Philippe to request a 1,000-year ransom to be paid into the time-mission for the desperate, releasing Sylvia when he declines. Raymond encounters Will, but when Sylvia accidentally shoots him in the shoulder, Will transfers two hours to Raymond, allowing him to survive long enough for his squad to retrieve him, and purloins his car.

Now committed to crashing the system, Will and Sylvia rob Weis time banks, donating the extra capsules to the destitute, but soon realize that prices are simply increased to compensate for the extra time. Wanted and on the lam they rent out an entire hotel to hide. Fortis's gang finds them, but Will successfully times out Fortis in a wrist wrestling match by using his deceased father's technique and kills his Minutemen. He and Sylvia then decide to rob Philippe's vault of a 1,000,000-year capsule. Raymond pursues them from New Greenvich to Dayton, where he was born but eventually escaped, but fails to stop them from distributing the stolen time. Having neglected to collect his per diem, he times out. Will and Sylvia nearly time out themselves, but survive by taking Raymond's salary.

Television reports show factories in Dayton shutting down as everyone abandons their jobs due to possessing sufficient time to sustain themselves. Having witnessed the consequences of Raymond's obsession with the pair, his colleague Jaeger orders the Timekeepers to return home. Will and Sylvia progress to larger banks, still attempting to level the system.

Cast

Production

Before the film was titled In Time, the names Now and I'm.mortal were used. [8] On July 12, 2010, it was reported that Amanda Seyfried had been offered a lead role. [9] On July 27, 2010, it was confirmed that Justin Timberlake had been offered a lead role. [10] On August 9, 2010, Cillian Murphy was confirmed to have joined the cast. [11]

The first photos from the set were revealed on October 28, 2010. [12] 20th Century Fox and New Regency distributed the film, and Marc Abraham and Eric Newman's Strike Entertainment produced it. [13]

In an interview with Kristopher Tapley of In Contention, Roger Deakins stated that he would be shooting the film in digital, which makes this the first film to be shot in digital by the veteran cinematographer. [14]

The use of retrofuturism is one of many elements that the film shares with Niccol's earlier work, Gattaca ; Niccol himself referred to it as "the bastard child of Gattaca". [15]

On September 15, 2011, a lawsuit was filed against the film by attorneys acting on behalf of Harlan Ellison, author of "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman". The suit, naming New Regency, director Andrew Niccol and a number of anonymous John Does, appears to base its claim on the similarity that both the completed film and Ellison's story concern a dystopian future in which people have a set amount of time to live which can be revoked, given certain pertaining circumstances by a recognized authority known as a Timekeeper. Initially, the suit demanded an injunction against the film's release; [16] however, Ellison later altered his suit to instead ask for screen credit [17] before ultimately dropping the suit, with both sides releasing the following joint statement: "After seeing the film In Time, Harlan Ellison decided to voluntarily dismiss the Action. No payment or screen credit was promised or given to Harlan Ellison. The parties wish each other well, and have no further comment on the matter." [18]

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 36% of 173 critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 5.30/10. The website's consensus reads, "In Time's intriguing premise and appealing cast are easily overpowered by the blunt, heavy-handed storytelling." [6] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 53 based on 36 reviews. [7] CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "B-" on an A+ to F scale. [19] Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review with 3 stars out of 4, noting that the "premise is damnably intriguing", but "a great deal of this film has been assembled from standard elements". [20] Henry Barnes noted that Will is "one of the 99%" and calls the character "a Rolex Robin Hood". [21]

The Atlantic 's Noah Berlatsky argued that the film depicted inequality as "sexy" in its portrayal of a romance between a lower-class and upper-class character, and describing the characters' bank robberies as the "hoariest of get-rich schemes" that operates within the capitalist system rather than dismantling it. [22] Writing for Time magazine, Richard Corliss praised the premise but criticized Niccol's direction of the cast, writing that his "imagination is vigorously literary but not thrillingly cinematic", describing the film's second half as devolving into poorly executed action sequences. [23] Manohla Dargis gave the film a mixed review, comparing the story to the works of Philip K. Dick, as well as Niccol's earlier film Gattaca with the inclusion of the "master-slave dialectic" between the rich and the poor, like that of the genetically perfect and imperfect in his earlier work. Dargis also noted the appearance of Holocaust imagery, in which the poor remain lying where they die. [24]

Box office

In Time grossed $12 million on its opening weekend, debuting at number three behind Puss in Boots , and Paranormal Activity 3 . The film eventually grossed over $37.5 million in the US and $136.4 million internationally for a worldwide total of $173.9 million. [5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "In Time (2011)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . Archived from the original on October 11, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  2. ↑ Ng, Philiana (October 20, 2010). "'In Time' Premiere Red Carpet Arrivals: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on August 31, 2019. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  3. ↑ "IN TIME (12A)". British Board of Film Classification . October 11, 2011. Archived from the original on October 9, 2019. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  4. ↑ Kaufman, Amy (October 27, 2011). "Movie Projector: 'Puss in Boots' to stomp on competition". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on November 18, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2011.
  5. 1 2 "In Time". Box Office Mojo . Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
  6. 1 2 "In Time (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes . Archived from the original on March 14, 2024. Retrieved May 2, 2025.
  7. 1 2 "In Time Reviews". Metacritic . Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  8. ↑ Rich, Katey (November 1, 2010). "I'm.mortal Retitled Now, Adds Alex Pettyfer And Matt Bomer To Cast". Cinema Blend. Archived from the original on October 11, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  9. ↑ Gallagher, Brian (July 12, 2010). "Amanda Seyfried Signs on to I'm.mortal". MovieWeb . Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  10. ↑ Douglas, Edward (July 27, 2012). "Justin Timberlake Leading I'm.mortal?". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on June 26, 2018. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  11. ↑ Gallagher, Brian (August 9, 2010). "Cillian Murphy to Star in I'm.mortal". MovieWeb . Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Timberlake and Seyfried Spotted Filming Their New Thriller". ComingSoon.net. October 28, 2010. Archived from the original on June 26, 2018. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  13. ↑ Sneider, Jeff (August 9, 2010). "Justin Timberlake, Cillian Murphy in Talks to Join 'I'm.mortal". TheWrap . Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  14. ↑ Tapley, Kristopher (December 22, 2010). "TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: 'True Grit' cinematographer Roger Deakins". In Contention. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  15. ↑ Capps, Robert (October 6, 2011). "Director Calls In Time 'Bastard Child of Gattaca'". Wired. Archived from the original on August 15, 2019. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  16. ↑ Gardner, Eriq (September 15, 2011). "Harlan Ellison Sues Claiming Fox's 'In Time' Rips Off Sci-Fi Story (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  17. ↑ Moore, Roger (August 26, 2014). "Ellison wants 'In Time' concessions — only asks for credit?". Orlando Sentinel . Archived from the original on February 13, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  18. ↑ O'Neill, Brian (December 1, 2011). "Ellison drops lawsuit after watching In Time". Sci-Fi Storm. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  19. ↑ Finke, Nikki (October 30, 2011). "Snow Ices Box Office: 'Puss In Boots' #1, 'Paranormal' #2, 'In Time' #3, 'Rum Diary' #4". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on October 30, 2011. Retrieved October 30, 2011.
  20. ↑ Ebert, Roger. "In Time". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  21. ↑ Barnes, Henry (November 4, 2011). "In Time – review". The Guardian . Archived from the original on October 19, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  22. ↑ Berlatsky, Noah (October 28, 2011). "'In Time': A Hollywood Get-Rich-Quick Tale Disguised as Capitalist Critique". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on October 29, 2011. Retrieved June 9, 2025.
  23. ↑ Corliss, Richard (October 27, 2011). "In Time: Justin Timberlake Tries to Beat the Clock". Time. ISSN   0040-781X . Retrieved June 9, 2025.
  24. ↑ Dargis, Manohla (October 27, 2011). "Die Young, Stay Pretty, and Watch Your Clock". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 12, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2025.
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