History is littered with incredible concepts being wasted on movies that range from the middling to the terrible, so much so that diehard film fans have a list of reliable candidates they’re ready to name-drop as soon as the conversation rears its head. One title in particular that stands out among the pack because people still can’t comprehend how it bungled such an A-list synopsis is Andrew Niccol’s In Time.
Given that he wrote and directed the acclaimed Gattaca, landed an Academy Award nomination for penning The Truman Show, and pulled double duty on underrated Nicolas Cage action thriller Lord of War, the filmmaker had established himself as being supremely talented when it came to tackling genre films that read as broad on paper, before filling them to the brim with prescient social and economic subtext that gave them several extra layers of bite.
With that in mind, In Time should have been a home run. Unfolding in a future where time is literally money, the average person has to work their fingers to the bone just to stay live, while the rich and powerful have enough resources to be effectively rendered immortal. Taking “living paycheck-to-paycheck” to a whole new level, it was a fascinating premise with limitless potential to deliver a classic sci-fi story that boasted crisp visuals, hard-hitting set pieces, and weighty ruminations on the modern world.
Instead, In Time was a bust, and folks can’t get over it. On Reddit, the lament on how badly the ball was dropped continues to overshadow the several merits of the project as a whole, but given that it’s been 11 years and the number one talking point remains the wasting of a weapons-grade synopsis, it’s clear that this one continues to sting.