In Time: Time as Currency, Inequality & Controversy

0:00On March 22nd, in the sci-fi movie In Time from 2011, director Andrew Nickel imagines a future where time serves as currency. Everyone has a glowing timer on their arm that counts down to death, and people trade hours and years just to survive. Factory workers grind through long shifts for barely enough extra time to give by, while the super-rich horde centuries worth. The story follows Will, a struggling young guy played by Justin Timberlake, who suddenly inherits a fortune in time from a wealthy stranger. This catapulted him into the elite world of high-stakes gambling and luxury, but time cops led by Sillian Murphy chase him down. He teams up with a rich ares, portrayed by Amanda Saferead, to steal a massive time vault and redistribute it to the poor, like a modern Robin Hood. Critics gave the film a rough ride, landing it just a 36% approval rating on rotten tomatoes from 173 reviews. He felt it had a fresh idea about inequality, but failed to dig deep enough into the social

1:01commentary, calling it more style than substance. Things got spicy when sci-fi legend Harlan Ellison sued over similarities to his 1965 short story about a rigid time obsessed society. He even pushed for a release block, but after watching the movie, Ellison dropped the case completely, admitting it stood on its own. Despite the backlash, in time pulled in $174 million worldwide against the $40 million budget, making it a solid. Erner. These days, it flies under the radar as a fun guilty pleasure that hinted at bigger ideas without fully caching them in. Stay in the know with entertainment and celebrity news today, AI-powered updates. I'm Corey with The Story.