Rating of
1.5/4
Reductive to the Point of Being Stupid
Looneymanthegreat - wrote on 06/29/14
In Time is basically Elysium before Elysium came out; but a whole lot worse. Hollywood seems to like these social-injustice-metaphor movies a lot, but they never turn out right. Avatar was boring, Elysium was worse and District 9 was annoying. Politically charged movies like this end up getting so tied up in their message that they forget to tell a good story. In Time is no exception, and may be the worst of this trend.
It’s difficult to talk about a movie that’s as politically charged as In Time without dipping into politics, but I will hold myself back suffice to say that In Time tackles a huge modern social issue and reduces it to a black and white essence, turning the entire thing into a straw man. This is a problem a lot of movies that try to hard to have a message suffer. It doesn’t matter weather you agree with the movies message or not, you’ll notice that it’s reductive to the point of being stupid.
But, as I’ve mentioned before in both negative and positive reviews, a movie can be as stupid as it wants as long as it succeeds to draw its audience into the movie. In Time, as you’ve probably guessed, does not accomplish this stupid fun feel. What we get instead is a boring protagonist, a boring love interest and a boring villain. These characters go through a plot that’s also boring (quite a feat considering its awesome premise.) It’s a Bonnie and Clyde and Robin Hood style sci-fi romp that makes one whish they were watching those films instead.
Cillian Murphy put’s up an above average performance and the premise is interestingly unique, but that’s not enough to save this movie. It’s worth checking out if you like watching unique science fiction movies, but even then I doubt you’ll get to much out of In Time.
