Directed by: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Justin Timberlake, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde
Alex Pettyfer, Vincent Kartheiser
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 109 minutes
Film: 2 out of 5 stars
Extras: 2 out of 5 stars
Andrew Niccol seems to have a thing for futuristic themes like in his 1997 film “Gattaca” and then again in 2002 with “S1m0ne”. This film is set in the year 2161 and packs a great cast including Amanda Seyfried and Justin Timberlake. When you factor that in this film should be kick ass…except it stalls after it takes off. The whole science fiction factor of the film, which was the main draw from me, gets old and overused very fast. Instead of focusing on the that the film focuses on a love story. The cast is great but feels restricted by this boring and confused film. Kudos to Cillian Murphy for a great performance but I am sorry…does he really look 25?!
Taking place in the future, genetic alteration has stopped humanity from aging past 25 in order to control population. Once someone turns 25, you die unless you earn time by working but if your clock, implanted in your arm, reaches zero you die instantly. Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) doesn’t have it easy, just turning 28 years old has been struggling to stay alive. This is until his given over 100 years by a rich man who is tired of living. He meets Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried), a rich girl who is looking for life on the edge and the two head out to change the world.
Props needs to go to the Blu-ray though for packing some great video and sound. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 rocks it, especially in the action scenes. The special features though are also lacking like the film and there are only two extras included. The first feature called “The Minutes” and it is a faux-documentary which gives back story for how scientists discovered immortality. There are also 10 short deleted/extended scenes, which don’t add too much but does include a subplot with Will’s father. Lastly, if you like trailers though Fox has included almost 15 minutes of them but I just skip to the main menu usually.
