rating: ★★1/2

Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried looking hot, in a dishevelled, dystopian kind of way.

In the near future, time is money in the most literal sense imaginable.

That’s the basic concept behind In Time, the latest science-fiction thriller from Andrew Niccol, the director of Gattaca and Lord of War. It’s a neat concept and well executed in the film, but unfortunately the concept seems to be the only innovation in the movie. In Time is fast-paced and fun, with a surprisingly effective lead performance by Justin Timberlake, but it’s also derivative in so many other ways. It is basically a mediocre Hollywood thriller with a cool concept and a heavy dose of socio-political allegory.

In the world of In Time, human genetics have been perfected and people don’t age past 25. However, when they reach 25, their arm-clock, a green fluorescent readout on their left arm, starts to tick down to zero. Most people live with only a day’s worth of time, working poor jobs and paying debts — surviving with what little time they can make. A select few have almost limitless time and can virtually live forever. This is the most radical divide between the rich and the poor imaginable.

Will Salas (Timberlake) is a working stiff living day to day. One day after work, he saves a rich man from being robbed by some thugs. While hiding out in a warehouse, the rich man explains that limitless time is a curse and transfers his century’s worth of time to Will while he’s asleep. The man then commits suicide by letting his clock run out on a nearby bridge. Will tries to rescue the man, but is caught on camera, thought by the authorities to have stolen the time.

Will goes on the run with the newly acquired time, heading to the rich zone. There he becomes entangled with Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried), daughter of the richest man alive, Philippe Weis (Vincent Kartheiser) all while a cop, the Timekeeper (Cillian Murphy), is tracking him down.

Most of In Time’s characters are threadbare cliches. Will is the hero everyman. Sylvia is the Stockholm syndrome-addled hostage turned love interest. Philippe Weis is the big bad rich guy with no conscience. Murphy’s Timekeeper is the straight-laced villain, basically a leather-wearing Javert from Les Misérables.

None of these characters are original and the plot of In Time unravels in a completely predictable manner. This takes away from much of the joy of the unique premise. The concept may be original, but if it all plays out in the least original manner possible, what good is the concept?

In Time seems equal measures Bonnie & Clyde and Robin Hood. Everything in the movie works to a formula so Niccol can push forward his socio-political message of equality and economic reform.

There is no way that Andrew Niccol could have predicted Occupy Wall Street, but In Time taps in perfectly to this current protest movement. It is filled with heavy-handed messages about the abuses of the rich, the inherent flaws of the capitalist economic system and the futility of trying to work against the system from within. All these points are well and good, but they are too blunt. It’s one thing for a protester to hold a sign getting right to the point, but a film cannot be so frank.

There is nothing subtle about In Time and this too often makes the film seem stilted and unrealistic.

Still, some parts of the film do work well. Niccol keeps the action light and easy to follow. The pace moves fast enough that you don’t notice the film going on too long. In particular, Justin Timberlake impresses.

Timberlake isn’t anyone’s first choice to star as a Hollywood action hero but he’s surprisingly good here. He still has a ways to go with some of the more delicate emotions (his crying leaves something to be desired) but he has presence and charisma and makes you completely forget that you used to hate this guy when he was the wimpy lead singer of ’N Sync.

Seyfried is also good and, although her relationship with Timberlake is underdeveloped, the chemistry between them is strong. It is also worth mentioning that she looks stunning here, as do most of the actors. One of the great advantages of making a movie where everyone stays 25 is that only the most gorgeous people imaginable will populate it — and Cillian Murphy, who may not be eye-candy, but is good as the villain since he is good in everything.

In Time works off a promising premise, but the result is an unfulfilled movie. It has strong moments and serves adequately as breezy entertainment, but if Niccol wanted his socio-political message to have more heft, he should have framed it in subtler terms. Because heavy-handed protesting is one thing and heavy-handed filmmaking is something completely different.

[box type=”info”]In Time is currently playing at Galaxy Cinemas.[/box]

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Image: Supplied