My first post and it is about the soon-to-be-released, much criticized, Price of Life/Logan’s Run, rip off In Time? When the trailer for this film was released (and I’m sure I’m not alone in this) I was not too optimistic. The plot seemed played out by the afore-mentioned titles, and the simple metaphor of time not-so-metaphorically equaling money seemed like far too weak of a plot device to keep any one’s attention for longer than the opening half hour.
Sadly, this film may just be a victim of failed marketing, and overly cynical viewers. The reality is that there is every reason to be optimistic about this film.
The film’s creative force, Andrew Niccol (writer, director), has proved his talent enough times that he deserves to be given the benefit of the doubt without having to sing for his supper. With cult favourites like The Truman Show, Gattaca, and Lord of War under his belt, it is shocking that any one would question his newest project before seeing anything more than a 40-second preview.
Also the cast.
I know that’s not a complete paragraph, and it’s a horrible transition, but come on people! Justin Timberlake, who seems to be much maligned for no reason (his N’Sync early days and Sexy Back solo work not with standing), has to constantly prove himself to Hollywood’s judgemental eyes, and with every acting project he has taken on he has done just that. The much forgotten Alpha Dog and Blake Snake Moan, along with his Oscar buzz inducing The Social Network, not to mention his various stints on SNL, should by now have made us all forget about his boy-band roots.
The rest of the cast isn’t too shabby either. Amanda Seyfried has been pretty hit or miss, but that really speaks more to her ability to choose roles than her talent as an actress the rest of the cast, most notably Olivia Wild and Johnny Galecki (the other guy from Big Bang Theory) is strong enough to hold the minor roles that they are given . Most interesting though is the villian. Cillian Murphy almost exclusively does good work and probably doesn’t even need to be defended so I’ll just move on.
This film could not be more timely. “Many must die so a few can live forever,” the most affecting (and a little bit cheezy) line of the trailer sounds like it was written for the occupy Wall Street protesters. My suggestion, instead of going to your local occupy rally to try and make a difference, just bail and see this movie instead. After all, apathy breads nothing and we all do live in a first world country right?
The last reason that you should be optimistic about Niccol’s newest project is the featurette that was released. A film like this was meant to be made raw. While the trailer depicted a glitzy future world like Back to the Future‘s 2015, this featurette shows a different side, a dirtier more Children of Men side. And that should excite you.
Ego Centric Movie Blog 
brittany
/ November 16, 2011Awesome.