In the not-too-distant future the aging gene has been switched off. To avoid overpopulation, time has become the currency and the way people pay for luxuries and necessities. The rich can live forever, while the rest try to negotiate for their immortality. A poor young man who comes into a fortune of time, though too late to help his mother from dying. He ends up on the run from a corrupt police force known as 'time keepers'.
Niccol's zippy direction, joined to a sleek, rich production design, keeps the movie spinning like a shiny toy.
– Bruce Diones,
New Yorker,
31 Oct 2011
rotten:
The film is beautifully shot in chilly blues and grays by cinematographer Roger Deakins, and Los Angeles locales are well chosen for futuristic effect. Most of the time, however, I found myself glancing at the clock on my own wrist.
– Peter Rainer,
Christian Science Monitor,
31 Oct 2011
rotten:
Niccol's major problem is timing: action sequences and dialogue scenes lie flat on the screen, while his tendency to play around with pacing means that any tension quickly dissipates. Life's too short.
– Tom Huddleston,
Time Out,
1 Nov 2011
fresh:
Clever and unsettling.
– Andrea Gronvall,
Chicago Reader,
10 Nov 2011
rotten:
In Time is so crammed with provocative ideas it begins to feel over-crowded.