What Do The Critics Say?

"Back in 1997, Andrew Niccol arrived with a splash thanks to the smart, stylish Gattaca, which posited a future where genetic engineering could lead to physical perfection: provided you could afford it. Now comes a similar concept. It’s another intriguing, intelligent idea, this time about the role that time plays in all our lives. For all its flaws, this remains worth some of your hard-earned time." James White SFX MAGAZINE "In Time combines a number of interesting ideas and assembles them in a unique way with a very different outcome than most films of this type. There’s almost too much story to tell for the running time, but the pacing and close attention to details carry the film even when the acting falls short. Both an entertaining bit of science fiction and a relevant metaphor for our time? When time really is money, it's hard not to keep looking at your watch. Fortunately, viewing this film won't have you looking at yours." Kevin A Ranson MOVIE CRYPT "We’ve all heard the old saying 'time is money', but here, it really is. Kudos to writer-director Andrew Niccol, who’s back in the same speculative sci-fi universe he examined in Gattaca. Although the film lacks momentum, the premise and Timberlake's appeal makes it a more than decent watch. Amanda Seyfried, as the obligatory love interest, is ideal as her chemistry with Timberlake is excellent." Chris Bumbray JOBLO'S MOVIE EMPORIUM

"Is it possible to give a film four stars for its premise and two stars for its execution? As an avid fan of wacked-out premises, this reviewer says yes. Sometimes a film’s concept is so rich in potential that it compensates: up to a point; for a cartoonish realization. Thanks to the cinematography of Roger Deakins, Timberlake and Seyfried look luminous in the film’s bleak industrial landscapes." Margot Harrison SEVEN DAYS "Andrew Niccol, the genre-twisting director of "Gattaca", delivers another entertaining mind-bender. Niccol's zippy direction, joined to a sleek, rich production design, keeps the movie spinning like a shiny toy. The remarkably good-looking cast includes Amanda Seyfried, Matt Bomer, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde, and Vincent Kartheiser, and they are all out to have some wicked fun. As for Timberlake, he shows some smart acting moves." Bruce Diones THE NEW YORKER "In Time is filled with sly references and obvious puns, as well as sometimes heavy-handed parallels to class warfare. In Time paints a bleak of a mostly joyless times with lots of metaphors about how we live today. Justin Timberlakes really good at the flirting and the action scenes. In time does a great job of setting out the groud-rules." Richard Roeper & THE MOVIES "It's a plot with intriguing issues touched upon, including mortality, the class system and that knowing how much time we have left to live can affect our judgments. The film’s neat premise is that, with the ageing gene identified, the government has developed a clever means of population control." David Edwards DAILY MIRROR

The Inside Story Pick up a magazine or a newspaper. Turn on the television. Surf the internet…or go to a movie. It’s there, overt or subtle, permeating media: we are a culture obsessed with youth, of staying youthful looking for as long as we can. Billions of dollars and hours are spent annually by the health and beauty industries, trying to find ways to halt the body’s aging process, feeding consumers willing to spend a cumulative amount that could erase a small country’s debt in exchange for their very own fountain of youth. Anti-aging cremes, antioxidents, vitamins, fat-fighters, there's something always being touted as a way to look better, live longer and remain healthy at the same time. As science edges ever closer to finding the solution to combating the complex process, one man may have found a way to keep human beings young forever: on paper, at least; future-realist filmmaker Andrew Niccol. Niccol’s skill in bringing together big action set pieces and big ideas in unexpected ways, in fantastical yet recognizable worlds is in full evidence in "In Time" which he describes as "an action thriller. I think people can enjoy it on that level. They’ll go for the stunts, action, car chases and to see Amanda Seyfried wielding a gun, which she does brilliantly! But I think audiences will appreciate some of the ideas and themes we explore, because In Time does say something about our desire to stay young forever. While we can’t turn off the aging gene, as we’re able to do in the film, we do go to a lot of extremes to stay young." Niccol, a New Zealander born in Paraparaumu, New Zealand, had honed his filmmaking skills in London directing commercials, before arriving in Hollywood with a splash as writer and director of the futuristic 1997 film "Gattaca", which starred Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law. The following year, he penned "The Truman Show" starring Jim Carrey, Ed Harris and Laura Linney. It garnered him an Academy Award® nomination for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Niccol’s ability to bring together bold, new ideas with instantly relatable ones resonated with producer Eric Newman ("The Emperor's Club"). "Like all of Andrew’s work, his screenplay for "In Time" really transported me, and I found myself in a world he had created. It was a parable, a socially conscious work and yet, like all his work, it was incredibly entertaining, fast-paced and brilliant." Andrew Z Davis who Executive produced 1998's, "Enemy of the State", starring Will Smith, Gene Hackman and Jon Voight, was eager to work on a film that was both a great ride and a social commentary and has resonance. "Everyone can relate to a story about haves and have-nots, which is essentially what the story’s about. But, at the same time, it has action, romance, and a political message. And as everyone knows, a good thriller has to have a ticking clock, whether you’re waiting for a bomb to go off or a hostage to get rescued. In this movie, it is actually a clock; time is the great discriminator." Executive producer Kristel Laiblin, associate producer on acclaimed Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón's "Children of Men", was taken with the intricacies of Niccol’s work and the flourishes in his storytelling. "Andrew’s way with telling a story is economical and evocative. The world of our hero moves quickly; no one wastes time. At the opposite end is the world of the wealthy, where you’d never see anyone timing out. You can spend time however you want, a leisurely game, like cards, which no one would play elsewhere. They are completely different worlds and Andrew created them both vividly in a few pages." Executive producer Amy Israel, was at New Regency Productions when Niccol brought in the project. Israel, production executive on Paul Thomas Anderson's Dual Oscar winning "There Will Be Blood", like all of her colleagues, sharply remembers her first read. "Andrew’s script was original, had a big idea and had a compelling emotional story at its core. It was special, and we all knew that from the start. And the story took place in a world not unlike our own, sort of an alternate reality. Here, time is currency, and everyone is born with a body clock embedded on the wrist. At the age of twenty five: when the frontal lobe of the brain and the body are considered fully matured, that clock starts ticking; and you have one year to live. Either you’re born into time, and have no worries, or you begin working your life away, literally." The hero of Niccol's story is Will Salas. He lives in the poorest region, or time zone, named Dayton. He rarely has more than 24 hours on his body clock, and must work every day at a factory to afford another day of life. For his mother, Rachel, it is the same story, as it is for all in hard-scrabble Dayton. But far from desolate, Dayton is alive with color, sound, speed, music, urgency and crime. Gangs called Minute Men are always on the lookout for ways to steal time, and ending a life in exchange for a few hours means nothing to them." When Will protects the wealthy interloper Henry from a crew of Minute Men intent on timing him out, Henry makes a present to Will of a century of time. But it's not that simple. As time is currency and painstakingly tracked as such, the movement of such a large sum within the confines of Dayton alerts the authorities, the Timekeepers. Moreover, Will is falsely accused of murder, which triggers a veteran Timekeeper named Leon to begin a relentless pursuit of Will. Without an overriding plan: apart from avoiding capture by the Timekeepers; Will decides to spend his time in the richest zone, New Greenwich. In stark contrast to Dayton, nothing moves quickly here; time is a luxury all residents can afford, since most have hundreds, or even thousands of years to live. But relative immortality comes at a price, and all inhabitants of New Greenwich, are fearful of theft and injury. Newman ("Dawn of the Dead") notes the speed with which Niccol introduces this world in his script. "The biggest challenge in a movie like this is how do we sell the world?" The answer is simple. "Andrew did it in the first three pages of the script. Will Salas wakes up, walks into a room, and there is a beautiful twenty five year old woman and he says, 'Hi, Mom.' And he’s got this counter on his wrist, and it’s counting down." Seeking actors for a movie where everyone is or remains twenty five may sound like a straightforward task, but itt wasn't the case. True, on the outside, the characters look twenty five, on the inside, they are older: some in their 30s, 50s, 60s, some over 100. And that needed to be conveyed in performance, without benefit of makeup, effects or CGI. Nicoll explained: "All the actors had to look around age twenty five because in the story, that’s when the aging gene switches off." That specific age was not aq stab in the dark. "It’s the age we fully mature, when the frontal lobe of the brain fully develops. It is the part of the brain that controls impulse and reckless behavior. Rental car companies know this; they will not rent a car to somebody under age twenty five. There are characters in the film who are chronologically a century old, so I had to search for 'old souls'. Only certain young actors have the ability to play a senior citizen in a twenty five year old body." One actor who jumped at the chance to play an 'old soul' was Justin Timberlake. It was Timberlake’s early rise to stardom that helped convince the filmmakers of his fit for the character of Will. Four time Emmy Award winner Timberlake, a longtime fan of action films, embraced the opportunity to play a character whose heroics are grounded in reality and a contextual richness. "When I was a kid, some of my favorite movies were action pieces like First Blood, The Fugitive, and Die Hard. The one thing I loved about those specific movies was that the protagonists were everyday people placed into extraordinary circumstances and doing extraordinary things." Timberlake ("The Social Network") reserves special praise for 2005 Locarno International Film Festival Bronze Leopard Award winner Amanda Seyfried ("Nine Lives"), who portrays Sylvia, his at first unwilling partner in crime. "There are people that see the world the same way Will does. At the end of the day, I think he just wants what is fair. I think, through Sylvia, Will discovers that there’s something bigger he could be fighting for. It becomes kind of a Robin Hood tale at that point, once they pair up; like any young people put in high risk situations, they become enamored with each other. And working one on one with Amanda has been great. I feel like we’ve really captured something special between those two characters." While Sylvia may become someone who inspires Will to take up the fight, she certainly does not start out that way. Andrew Z Davis notes the nascent darker side of Sylvia was something Seyfried could bring to the fore. "What I love about Amanda is there’s a sweetness about her but, at the same time, she has an edge. I don’t think audiences have really gotten to see her edge that much in movies." "Sylvia is the girl in the gilded cage," Israel notes, "trapped by her situation; she questions it because she isn’t sure everything is exactly the way it should be. But she’s kept in that system by her father and her circumstance, all the time yearning for more, wanting to take risks. But no one in New Greenwich takes risks." "Sylvia dreads her life every day," Seyfried revealed. "She wants to have some kind of adventure. In a world like this, you spend so much time trying to protect your life that you don’t really end up living. Everybody has bodyguards. They all eat very well, but very little, they don’t drink or smoke; it’s mundane. Sylvia just isn’t made for this kind of life. She gets her wish for a different life when Will takes her away." Timberlake notes: "The first half of the movie is really Will’s arc: halfway through, he makes the decision about what he is fighting for, he finds a bigger purpose. The second half of the film is a huge arc for Sylvia. She comes from time, and underestimates what Will values, as he does with her." Sylvia and Will are running for their lives: not just to find enough time to make it through another day; but from the Timekeepers out to capture the fugitive duo. "Timekeepers keep the system running; they actually keep time," Niccol says. "And our principal antagonist, Timekeeper Leon, is not really a villain." Leon is Will’s opposite number. Timekeeper Leon is played by another 'old soul', 2007 IFTA Award winner Cillian Murphy ("Breakfast on Pluto") who explained: "What’s great about the character is that he is a contradiction, because he’s actually from that same ghetto where Will lives. Deep down, he knows that it’s a corrupt system, and yet he’s decided to accept that and pursue his goal of keeping time. He’s a very kinetic and focused character, and for him it’s just about constantly moving forward. I think he’s suppressed all of his past. What I liked about the writing is that Will and Leon, they’re the flip side of each other. It’s just different paths having been taken. This is the path he’s chosen, and he suppresses all of the misgivings and issues he has with this system." What's It All About?

Welcome to a world where time has become the ultimate currency. People stop aging at twenty five, but there is a catch: you're genetically-engineered to live only one more year, unless you can buy your way out of it. While the rich 'earn' decades at a time, remaining at age twenty five and becoming essentially immortal, everyone else must beg, borrow or steal enough hours to make it through the day. Until fate steps in and one man is given the chance to change it all. When Will's mother dies, he's shattered. In a bar he meets Henry Hamilton, a man with time on his hands: but not for long. He's come to the conclussion that it's not natural to live as long as he can. Henry gives Will his time. But when Henry's body is found in a waterway, the man from the wrong side of the tracks is falsely accused of murder. When he meets Sylvia, the two will become a powerful tool in a war against the system.

The Verdict "At last, another role in which highly talented, but lately mis-cast actor Justin Timberlake can shine in. After the bloody awful roles of "Bad Teacher" (wow, his role as Scott Delacorte still gives me nightmares) and "Friends with Benefits" (just down-right ugly), Timberlake showcases his strength (as he did in "The Social Network playing Sean Parker) in Andrew Nicoll's futurist tale, "In Time". His character's partner in crime Sylvia, is played by an almost unrecognisable Amanda Seyfried, who took the role in-part because, "getting to hold a gun and kick some butt also sounded like a blast." Seyfried, whose career highlights include "Letters to Juliet!", "Mamma Mia" and playing Karen Smith in "Mean Girls", here is cast as a 'good girl' gone bad. Both Timberlake and Seyfried play off each other very well, but it's not the first time they have appeared together on-screen. They were both cast in Nick Cassavetes, "Alpha Dog", as was Olivia Wilde who plays Will's mum in "In Time". The films 'bad guy' role went to highly accomplished Irish actor Cillian Murphy, whose breakthrough role came with Danny Boyle's Sci-Fi thriller, "28 Days Later". That was followed-up by a trio of great 'little' movies: "Red Eye", "Breakfast on Pluto" and Ken Loach's Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner, "The Wind That Shakes the Barley". Besides its lead actors, the strength of this film lies in a solid support cast and its cracker-jack storyline. Many, I am sure, would relish the opportunity to stay young forever, but there would still be the haves and have nots. Somewhere in there, people would still have to die. And if we didn't, could we find fulfilment in having time on our hands? Would it become as the film's hero Will observes: "the poor die and the rich don’t live." Entertain that thought! 4 STARS." Who Is Playing Who?

Justin Timberlake Amanda Seyfried Cillian Murphy Vincent Kartheiser Bella Heathcote Sasha Pivovarova Alex Pettyfer Olivia Wilde Collins Pennie Toby Hemingway Seema Lazar LaMonde Byrd Paul David Story Ethan Peck Shyloh Oostwald Johnny Galecki Colin McGurk Will Harris Michael Freeman Jesse Lee Soffer Aaron Perilo Nick Lashaway William Peltz Ray Santiago

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Will Sylvia Timekeeper Raymond Leon Philippe Weis Michele Weis Clara Weis Fortis Rachel Salas Timekeeper Jaeger Timekeeper Korsqq Timekeeper Ellini Minuteman Rado Minuteman Roth Constantin Maya Borel Citizen Ulysse Nardin Webb Bell Ekman Pierre Victa

The Production Team Directed by Andrew Niccol Written by Andrew Niccol Produced by Marc Abraham/Eric Newman/Andrew Niccol Original Music by Craig Armstrong Cinematography by Roger Deakins Film Editing by Zach Staenberg Casting by Denise Chamian Production Design by Alex McDowell Supervising Art Director Priscilla Elliott Art Direction by Vlad Bina/Todd Cherniawsky/Chris Farmer Set Decoration by Karen O'Hara Costume Design by Colleen Atwood Run Time 109 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2011 - Fox Films - All Rights Reserved Enduring © - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian & International Copyright, Trademark Laws & Intellectual Property Rights.