← All Movies

In Time

In 2169, people are genetically engineered to stop aging on their 25th birthday, when a one-year countdown on their forearm begins. When it reaches zero, the person "times out" and dies instantly.Time has thus become the universal fiat currency, transferred directly between people or stored on flashdrive type devices, some in secure bank vaults. Distinct socioeconomic caste "Time Zones" exist; Dayton is the poorest, a manufacturing hub and "ghetto" where people rarely have over 24 hours on their clocks, whereas in New Greenwich, the affluent Zone of plutocrats, people have enough time to be essentially immortal.

Will Salas (Timberlake) is a 28-year-old Dayton factory worker who lives with his mother, Rachel. One night, he rescues a drunken 105-year-old Henry Hamilton, from Fortis and his Minutemen gangsters, a group of time-robbing thugs. Hamilton, who has 116 years on his clock, reveals to Will that the people of New Greenwich hoard most of the time, while constantly increasing prices to impoverish people in less prosperous districts. The next morning, he transfers all but 5 minutes of his time to a sleeping Will, then times out before Will can stop him. Raymond Leon, the leader of police-like "Timekeepers", erroneously assumes Will robbed Hamilton.

Heeding his friend Borel's warning against possessing excess time in Dayton, Will donates 10 years (the length of their friendship) to him before departing, planning to relocate to New Greenwich with Rachel.However, that night, Rachel suddenly finds herself with insufficient bus fare to return to Dayton, having exhausted her earnings from two days' work in the Garment District to liquidate a two-day loan. The ambivalent driver advises her to run, but she arrives a few seconds too late for Will to rescue her and times out in his arms. The next morning, he furiously decides to avenge her death by visiting New Greenwich, internalizing Hamilton's words regarding the inequity of the Time System.

Arriving in New Greenwich in style, Will meets Philippe Weis, a time-loaning businessman, and his daughter Sylvia at a casino. While playing poker, Will nearly times out but eventually wins a millennium. Sylvia invites him to a party that night at her father's. Will then purchases a classic Jaguar E-Type convertible for 59 years of his time (plus tax, the salesman tells him) and drives it to the party. Will dances with Sylvia and convinces her to swim in the ocean, something that, out of fear, the rich never do. Timekeepers later arrive and detain Will, who claims his innocence in Hamilton's death. Rather than attempting to prove Will's guilt, Raymond simply confiscates all but two hours of Will's time, explaining it does not belong in Dayton.

Will escapes, taking Sylvia hostage and driving back to Dayton in the Jag. Fortis's gang sets up a roadblock which causes Will to crash into a flood control channel, knocking them unconscious. The gang arrives and steals most of their time, leaving Will and Sylvia with only 30 minutes each. They abandon the wrecked car and visit Borel's residence to retrieve some spare time but, his wife Greta tearfully explains that he has drunk himself to death. As their time is running out, the two obtain a day each by pawning Sylvia's diamond earrings. Will then calls Philippe to request a 1,000-year ransom to be paid into the time-mission for the desperate, releasing Sylvia when he declines. Raymond encounters Will, but when Sylvia accidentally shoots him in the shoulder, Will transfers two hours to Raymond, allowing him to survive long enough for his squad to retrieve him, and purloins his car.

Now committed to crashing the system, Will and Sylvia rob Weis time banks, donating the extra capsules to the destitute, but soon realize that prices are simply increased to compensate for the extra time. Wanted and on the lam they rent out an entire hotel to hide.Fortis's gang finds them, but Will successfully times out Fortis in a wrist wrestling match by using his deceased father's technique and kills his Minutemen. He and Sylvia then decide to rob Philippe's vault of a 1,000,000-year capsule. Raymond pursues them from New Greenwich to Dayton, where he was born but eventually escaped, but fails to stop them from distributing the stolen time. Having neglected to collect his per diem, he times out. Will and Sylvia nearly time out themselves, but survive by taking Raymond's salary.

Television reports show factories in Dayton shutting down as everyone abandons their jobs due to possessing sufficient time to sustain themselves. Having witnessed the consequences of Raymond's obsession with the pair, his colleague Jaeger orders the Timekeepers to return home. Will and Sylvia progress to larger banks, still attempting to level the system.