The success of Suzanne Collins’ series, The Hunger Games, was invariably going to translate into a film adaptation. Plus, the concept of a post-apocalyptic world is all too appropriate at this juncture in time. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were all fighting for a chance to live on a televised competition in ten years from now (the Olympics and Survivor obviously being the precursor). But, what separates The Hunger Games from other novel series that the American reader has become obsessed with (Twilight, Harry Potter, et. al.) is its ability to poignantly address the basic concept of human existence: Survival. For those who live outside of New York City, it can be a difficult meme to recognize.

Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) announces Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) as the offering from District 12.

As the heroine of the story, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), struggles to comfort her younger sister, Primrose (Willow Shields), about the upcoming selection from their district for the 74th annual Hunger Games, she realizes that there is a very good chance that Prim could be chosen. Not wanting to face that fact until the announcement is made by the escort of the District 12 tributes, Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), Katniss dares to daydream of a world beyond District 12, that world being the elusive Capitol of Panem (formerly North America). For this is the place that controls all of the other districts, the place where wealth is possible (it actually sounds a lot like that Justin Timberlake/Amanda Seyfried movie, In Time). Ultimately, Katniss must offer herself as a tribute in place of her sister. Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) is the other tribute selected and, unbeknownst to Katniss, has harbored a longstanding crush on her.

Skillz.

Gary Ross, who directed the film and adapted the screenplay with Suzanne Collins, proves his wide range in directorial scope, considering that his resume up to this point has generally consisted of feel-good movies like Big, Dave, and Pleasantville (and I’m not referring to the bathtub scene in this movie as the feel-good part). The Hunger Games tackles far darker issues than Ross is accustomed to dealing with, particularly the necessity of doing any despicable thing necessary to live. This skill is crucial even before the games start as the tributes chat with TV host Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci, in his best dressed role to date) in order to gain the favor and sympathy of the viewers.

Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, billing Katniss as "The Girl on Fire."

Coached by Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) on how to act and what to wear, Katniss draws attention from the get-go as she rides through the streets of the Capitol with Peeta in matching suits that are designed to be set on fire. When Peeta announces to everyone on TV that he has had feelings for Katniss since he first saw her, Katniss interprets his action as a play for empathy. Katniss and Peeta’s mentor, Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), feels that this new twist can be used to their advantage if the audience sees them as a pair of “star-crossed lovers” (yeah, the term’s been used, but Shakespeare or whoever coined an irreplaceable term).

Cinna (Kravitz) sends Katniss (Lawrence) off to meet her fate.

Once Cinna sends Katniss out on her own, it’s an all-out bloodbath, with the weakest tributes being eliminated immediately. Katniss’ only prayer is getting a hold of a bow and arrow, as hunting via archery is one of her most useful skills. In the meantime, the remaining tributes have formed alliances, one of them specifically out to take down Katniss, who they view as the biggest threat. Katniss, on the other hand, only relies on one other tribute named Rue (Amandla Stenberg), a girl she feels she can trust because she reminds Katniss of her sister. The others eventually get to Rue before Katniss can save her, leaving solely Peeta as the last cohort she can turn to for assistance. It is at this point that the rules of the game are changed so that there can be two winners if they are from the same district.

Run fo yo life.

A blatant play-up of the “star-crossed lovers” angle, Katniss goes with it so that she can get the fuck out of the woods and back to her sister. Sadly, Peeta mistakes her feelings for being real, though in the book this element is conveyed much more succinctly. When the judges try to change the rules back to simply having one survivor, Katniss resorts to using a handful of poisonous berries she had saved so that both she and Peeta can commit suicide. Knowing full well that the political leaders of the Capitol would never stand for such a result, they submit to Katniss and allow her to return to District 12 with Peeta.

Peeta (Hutcherson) confers with Cinna (Kravitz) and Abernathy (Harrelson).

What it all boils down to is this: Lying, cheating, and generally being an asshole have become an unfortunate formula in the essential equation of getting ahead in the modern age. And it will only get worse if we permit it to. But, if you want to view a more humorous side to The Hunger Games, refer to a recent sketch on Stevie TV called “The Hunger Games Die-t Plan.”

Will Ferrell speaking Spanish. Yes, it is indeed comedy gold. In Casa De Mi Padre, there is a no holds barred approach to making fun of every single aspect of Spanish–specifically Mexican–culture. To further legitimize that over the top ribbing, Latino staples Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna appear as warring drug lords fighting over the same territory–and the same woman. If that sounds somewhat serious to you for a Will Ferrell movie, just know that Christina Aguilera’s “Casa de mi Padre” plays over the opening credits. That should allay any concerns you might have over this not being a comedy.

Armando Alvarez (Ferrell) with his brother, Raul (Luna).

Armando Alvarez (Ferrell) has just one interest in life: His father’s, Miguel Ernesto (Pedro Armendáriz Jr.), ranch. The idea of any other form of existence simply does not compute with him. In spite of his admiration for the land, Miguel Ernesto openly favors Raul (Luna), who returns home after being away for an indiscriminate period of time with a new girlfriend named Sonia (newcomer Genesis Rodriguez).

Genesis Rodriguez stars in Casa de mi Padre as Sonia, the love interest of not one, not two, but three men.

An immediate attraction forms between Sonia and Armando, even though both of them know their romance can never be. Regardless, they find themselves riding horses together (one of the best scenes of the movie in that it is blatant that the backdrop and the horses are fake), an intimate bonding experience that prompts Sonia to tell him that her uncle 1) Sexually assaulted her and 2) Will not rest until he makes her his again. Armando’s only reply to her outlandish story is: “Interesting.”

Promotional poster for Casa de mi Padre

With the DEA on La Onza’s (Bernal) tracks, the trail soon leads to Raul as well. Agent Parker (played by Nick Offerman, who also dabbles in speaking Spanish. I repeat: Nick Offerman speaking Spanish. See this movie now for this very fact alone.) hones in on Armando, sizing him up as a coward who will ultimately rat out his brother. But Armando is used to being underestimated, and ends up taking what he wants: Sonia. In one of the most ridiculous sex scenes since Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, Armando and Sonia wage a war of inappropriate ass grabbing–only to be discovered the next morning by La Onza.

Nick Offerman is God.

After La Onza condemns Sonia for sleeping with a filthy rancher, he has his henchman, Officer Blancardo (Manuel Urrego), shoot Armando repeatedly in the chest–right after he admits to being responsible for his mother’s death. But what would the comedic prowess of director Matt Piedmont and writer Andrew Steele (both of whom worked with Ferrell as writers during his Saturday Night Live tenure) be without a plot device to get Armando out of his “death”?

Which one of these is not like the other?

The stylized nature of Casa De Mi Padre will either sink or soar with moviegoers, depending on the audience that watches it. As of now, the statistics have indicated that the primary viewers of the film are male and/or Latino. So, I don’t know…I guess white women just don’t get it. But I sure as fuck thought it was hilarious. Maybe it’s like Raul says: “Mexico is not for cowards.” And neither is a spoof about it.

Amanda Seyfried isn’t one for shying away from portraying a semi-psychotic (see: Jennifer’s Body), which is why her latest role as Jill Conway, a victim of abduction, is rather ideal for honing the actress’ skill. After escaping an unidentified man who kept her captive in a hole in the recesses of Forest Park (and yes, I realize how sexual that sounds), Jill begs the police to find him before any other women are subjected to his insanity. Insisting that there were already victims of his crime because she saw human remains buried next to her while she was trapped, the police search the park for a week before assuming the man was a figment of Jill’s imagination (she has a history of mental illness, like so many people living in Portland).

Promotional poster for Gone

Now that Jill lives with her sister, Molly (Emily Wickersham), she feels slightly less afraid/paranoid, but still makes it a point to go to Forest Park on a frequent basis so that she can figure out where her abductor took her. Molly chastises her for being so obsessed and uses the analogy that if Molly started drinking again Jill would “lose her shit.” The closeness between Jill and Molly is exhibited in the dialogue created by Allison Burnett (also responsible for the Diane Lane psychological drama Untraceable), who displays a natural talent for the thriller genre.

Bitch ain't playin' no games.

When Molly tells Jill to wake her up early so that she can study before her final, Jill promises to be back home at 6:30 after her graveyard shift at The Lucky Star Diner. When she mentions to one of her co-workers, Sharon (Jennifer Carpenter, who has very little range beyond Dexter), that a customer that usually sits in a different section left her an insulting tip, Sharon insists that he’s usually more generous. Suspicion begins to arise within Jill as she heads back home to find Molly missing. Frantic, she immediately goes to report it to Lieutenant Powers (Daniel Sunjata), who takes it in stride, considering that Jill often comes to the police station to tell them that her abductor has returned.

Paranoia, paranoia. Everybody's coming to get her.

With no one on her side except a creepy new edition to the unit named Peter Hood (Wes Bentley), Jill takes matters into her own hands by pounding the pavement with her gun in tow. Being that someone involuntarily committed to a mental institution isn’t allowed to carry a gun, the Portland Police begin an extensive manhunt for Jill as she tries to clandestinely question anyone who might be able to lead her to her sister’s captor. Because she tells a different scenario to everyone she meets (to a hardware store clerk it’s that her grandfather has gone missing, to a skateboarding slacker it’s that she’s looking for the man who dinged the side of her car), it’s difficult to gauge if maybe Jill is a little bit off the rails.

How it all plays out in the end is nearly perfect, as Jill is finally able to throw the police’s adamancy about her mental instability back in their face by telling them, “It was all in my head.” Had this been the final scene of the movie, it might have been one of the best female vengeance stories of the year. Unfortunately, the cap to close out the film is more of a cautionary tale about how one can never get away with anything.

What do you get when you try to mash up an action movie with a romantic comedy? An atrocious bowel movement in the from of McG’s This Means War. While Reese Witherspoon, who plays the (what a surprise) type-A lead character of Lauren, is generally known for making sound decisions when it comes to selecting a film to be in, This Means War tries much too hard to be all things to all audiences. It suddenly makes you yearn for the day when McG was directing Charlie’s Angels.

FDR Foster (Chris Pine) and Tuck Henson (Tom Hardy), best friends and CIA operatives, vie for Lauren's (Witherspoon) affection.

While in Hong Kong on a covert mission, FDR and Tuck, longtime friends and partners in the CIA, end up botching the mission when they only kill one of the intended targets, the brother of an international criminal named Heinrich (Til Schweiger, who is a bit too gifted at playing a creepy assassin, as evidenced by his role as Sergeant Stiglitz in Inglourious Basterds). In upsetting Heinrich, they not only invoke the wrath of his vengeance, but are also grounded by their boss, Collins (Angela Bassett, who may actually be the best part of this movie despite her infrequent appearances), at the CIA field office in Los Angeles.

Promotional poster for This Means War

With nothing to occupy their time, Tuck is the first to acknowledge that he feels something is lacking in his life–and that something is a monogamous relationship with someone other than FDR. Meanwhile, Lauren’s best friend, Trish (Chelsea Handler, who basically plays herself in this role), signs her up for a dating website, which is, of course, how Tuck and Lauren find themselves going on a date together. What Lauren doesn’t know is that FDR has offered to hang out at the video store near the restaurant (which looks suspiciously like Virgin Records on Sunset before it closed down) in case Tuck needs an excuse to get out of the date. This is how Lauren just happens to run into FDR after her date with Tuck.

Two men: Same profession.

Once FDR and Tuck find out that they are dating the same woman, they mercilessly employ every gift they have for reconnaissance to win over her heart. Even though I guess it’s supposed to be funny, I found it slightly disturbing when both of them sneak into her house as she dances around to Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It” (a fact that would be a dealbreaker for me if I was a dude). And, whenever things in the realm of observation get too extreme during the movie, FDR simply blames it on the Patriot Act, always a good scapegoat, if nothing else.

The only aspect of the story that might have been redeeming is if Lauren chose to be with Tuck. But I suppose opposites attract, blah blah blah. Then again, who the fuck takes Chris Pine over Tom Hardy, opposite or not?

Steven Soderbergh is the undeniable master of intrigue, espionage, and emotional buildup. With Haywire, Soderbergh reveals this gift through the elegantly crafted script of Lem Dobbs (who also collaborated with Soderbergh on 1999′s The Limey). Opening calmly enough with Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) going to a coffee shop and sitting down to meet Kenneth (Ewan McGregor), she is surprised to see one of her fellow operatives, Aaron (Channing Tatum), come in his place instead. When she refuses to leave with him, he throws a cup of coffee in her face and tries to physically overpower her. Mallory wins out and takes an unwitting hostage, Scott (Michael Angarano), so that she can use his car to escape. The pace of the movie waxes and wanes between this sort of extreme action, occasionally tempered with a more subdued method of storytelling.

Promotional poster for Haywire

As Mallory drives frantically through the back roads of upstate New York with Scott in tow, she recounts the story of how she went from working for a private company contracted by the government to a rogue on the run. Everything went wrong when she and Aaron took a job in Barcelona to rescue a hostage named Jiang (Anthony Brandon Wong). Although they were able to reclaim Jiang and it all seemed to go according to plan, Kenneth managed to convince Mallory to take another job after she had already quit the agency (not to mention broken up with him several months prior). To persuade her, he goes to her apartment in San Diego and practically begs her to do him this one favor. Regretfully, she agrees.

Taking back a hostage in Barcelona.

Her cohort for the job is a freelance agent named Paul (Michael Fassbender), who she rendezvous with in Dublin. Since they have never met before, Mallory is instructed to wear a diamond brooch so that Paul will be able to recognize her. Mallory’s only task is to pose as Paul’s wife as they attend the Russborough House to meet with Studer (Mathieu Kassovitz, who you may recognize as Nino Quincampoix from Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie) in order to further Kenneth’s liaison with British intelligence agency MI6. Mallory does not begin to suspect that something is amiss until she sees Paul and Studer clandestinely talking outside near a barn. After she watches them separate, she ventures into the barn to discover Jiang’s dead body–with the brooch Mallory was wearing at the airport in his hand so that she will be held responsible for the murder.

Now all too aware that she is about to be stabbed in the back (in a sense that is, in all probability, literal as well), Mallory tries to act as though everything is normal when she goes back to the hotel room with Paul. Before she gets a chance to continue her charade, Paul knocks her in the back of the head, initiating one of the many beautifully choreographed fights that pepper the majority of the film.

With her traitorous fake husband, Paul (Fassbender)

To put the pieces of the puzzle together, Mallory gets in touch with a government agent named Coblenz (Michael Douglas, after all, what would a Steven Soderbergh movie be without him?) to demand why the Barcelona job backfired. Unable to answer her questions fully, Coblenz promises to help her if she can make it back to the United States undetected. To achieve this, Mallory contacts her father (Bill Paxton, who doesn’t really seem like an age appropriate choice for the role) in New Mexico and tells him to expect her there in two days.

Putting Kenneth (McGregor) in his place on a beach in Mexico.

From there, the action and intensity of Haywire escalates as Mallory unravels the truth (usually through an ass beating) about who betrayed her and why. Kenneth admits to his partial culpability by saying, “The motive is always money.” It’s a vaguely refreshing sentiment over the motive of most film characters always being love.

Miss Bala is not your typical beauty pageant movie. Granted, there are often drugs and clandestine violence involved in U.S. beauty pageants, the nature of how a pageant is run in Baja, California deviates somewhat from the norm. While, obviously, Miss Bala was intended to address a serious subject matter (drug trafficking in Mexico), I can’t help but wonder what a more satirical version of the film might have entailed–specifically in the vein of Michael Patrick Jann’s 1999 masterpiece, Drop Dead Gorgeous.

Promotional poster for Miss Bala

The heroine of Miss Bala, Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman), starts out as a naive and unwitting sort of contender, much like Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst) in Drop Dead Gorgeous. Her friend, Suzu (Lakshmi Picazo), tries out for the competition with her, and when both are accepted, Laura believes she really has a chance to positively represent Baja. What she doesn’t realize is that being at the wrong place at the wrong time will change her life forever. Kind of like Tammy (Brooke Elise Bushman) after Becky (Denise Richards) blows up her tractor.

Writer-director Gerardo Neranjo’s action-packed script, paired with his equally fast-paced directorial style, leaves little room for dialogue. Had it reflected the tongue in cheek mockumentary created by screenwriter Lona Williams in Drop Dead Gorgeous, there might have been more room to poke fun at the absurdity of Mexican drug/gang lords. And in any case, the out and out violence method can never be surpassed by Fernando Meirelles’ 2002 epic, City of God.

The other problem with Miss Bala is how much it strays away from the beauty pageant angle until the third act. The very title of the film suggests that this would be the crux of the story. Naturally, it would be difficult–but not impossible–to convey the intent of the movie without focusing on the drug/gang lord in question, Lino Valdez (Noe Hernandez), who develops an overt obsession with Laura, making awkward sexual advances toward her and forcing her to cross the border with a fuck ton of money strapped to her stomach so that she can give it to Lino’s cohort in the DEA, Jimmy (James Russo). In many ways, Lino’s sort of like the Kirstie Alley figure in this movie: Out to destroy whoever gets in the way of his reign.

A reluctant accomplice

The tragic conclusion of Miss Bala is designed to awaken its audience to the horrors of the Mexican drug trafficking industry (which, according to the epilogue, nets 25 billion dollars a year). With both Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal attached as producers of the film, the subject was obviously a personal one to all parties involved with it. I just think a little suffusion of beauty pageant mockery meets the innovative ways that drug traffickers come up with to smuggle their contraband could have been a nice touch.

Regardless of unquestionably donating funds to scientology in seeing the fourth installment of Mission: Impossible, if you’ve come this far in the series of films that began in 1996, you might as well see it through. Plus, Simon Pegg is in it, which is always a selling point in my book (in spite of Run, Fat Boy, Run and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs). And then there’s the fact that it was shot in Moscow and Dubai, two milieus that so rarely appear in American films.

Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt.

After Sabine Moreau (Léa Seydoux, whose career thus far has been founded on being hot/being the granddaughter of Jérôme Seydoux, the chairman of French film empire Pathé) assassinates an IMF agent named Trevor Hanaway (Josh Holloway of Lost fame–yet another Abrams connection in this movie), Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and Benji Dunn (Pegg) set out to extract Ethan (Cruise) from a Russian prison. This mission leads them to the Kremlin, where Ethan first encounters an extremist nuclear weapons proponent named Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist).

All my own stunts.

Writers André Nemec and Josh Applebaum (no strangers to working with Ghost Protocol producer J.J. Abrams, as both are veterans of Alias) accomplish a surprising amount of breadth for each of the main characters, including Jane Carter, Benji Dunn, William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), and, of course, Ethan Hunt. The four are forced together in the wake of IMF’s disavowal after Ethan is unwittingly framed for bombing the Kremlin by Hendricks. Without the support of the president or the secretary of the IMF (Tom Wilkinson), Ethan is left no alternative but to stop this Russian madman on his own.

Promotional poster Ghost Protocol

With minimal provisions to accomplish their task, Ethan’s ragtag gang of IMF refuse manages to save the day, albeit after numerous drawn out fighting scenes that leave you thinking, “Will you just fucking kick his ass already?” But, to answer whether Ghost Protocol galls or enthralls, if nothing else, there is Tom Cruise scaling the tallest building in the world without a stunt double.

David Fincher’s sensibilities as a director have always been piercing and intuitive, but with this remake of the 2009 Swedish version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Fincher pours every ounce of his modus operandi into Stieg Larsson’s story of a troubled and brilliant girl named Lisbeth (Rooney Mara). As an unwilling ward of the state, Lisbeth’s path intertwines with investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) after she performs an elaborate background check on him for a wealthy  Swedish magnate named Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer).

Rooney Mara looking every bit the part of Lisbeth.

Vanger’s wish for Mikael to figure out which member of his family killed his niece, Harriet (Moa Garpendal), comes at an ideal time for Mikael, who has recently been sued and publicly embarrassed for what the media perceives as libelous statements about a billionaire businessman named Wennerstrom (Ulf Friberg). With this new opportunity, Mikael is allowed the chance to hide from the disgrace surrounding him in Stockholm, leaving his co-editor (and adulterous paramour), Erika Berger (Robin Wright, who will never be as good as she was in The Princess Bride), in charge of damage control. Although Mikael doesn’t realize it until he arrives on the island where Henrik lives, he may have been safer from scrutiny in Stockholm.

A duo that knows everything about everyone.

In spite of Fincher constantly being associated with his days as a music video director, he has come a long way from the style of such a brief medium. Plus, his music videos always had an air of the cinematic (specifically his collaborations with Madonna on “Express Yourself,” “Vogue,” “Oh Father,” and “Bad Girl”). But the only trace of the music video director within him is the opening sequence of the film as Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ (who also worked with Fincher on The Social Network) musical partnership sets the tone for the sinister air of the film.

Mikael's tireless search for Harriet proves more dangerous than he could have imagined.

The length of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo echoes the thoroughness that David Fincher’s 2007 film, Zodiac, possessed. Of course, screenwriter Steven Zaillian–no stranger to the action genre, as evidenced by a resume that consists of Mission: Impossible, Gangs of New York, and The Interpreter–is also a key ingredient to the final product, as he adapted the novel with a fair amount of faithfulness and precision. What is more, Fincher’s familiarity with directing adaptations (e.g. Fight Club and The Social Network) is an important element of his repertoire in that it has enabled him to conscientiously recreate a story with such a vast and loyal following.

Guy Ritchie’s adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s world-famous literary character most assuredly possesses an edge that no other version of Sherlock Holmes has ever had, but this fact may not be able to make up for certain foibles of the auteur’s sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

Promotional poster for Sherlock Holmes

With a cerebral, intially action-lacking introduction, we are reintroduced to Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), the object of Holmes’ desire in the first film. As he warns her that she is being followed, Irene counters that she is being followed for her own protection, leaving Holmes to fight her trio of bodyguards–after they’ve made dinner plans for later. This fight scene establishes the norm for the rest of Sherlock Holmes: Slowed down and speeded up editing techniques that are, at times, too manufactured. It’s almost as though Ritchie and his editor, James Herbert (who also collaborated with Ritchie on Revolver, RocknRolla, and the first Sherlock Holmes), recently graduated from a trade school specializing in FinalCut and got overly excited about employing every possible method learned.

Alternate promotional poster for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

That being said, the real enjoyment of the film is not necessarily always in the visual, but in the intricacy and recondite nature of the plot as it unfolds to reveal an unprecedented rivalry between good and evil. Screenwriters Michele Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney (yes, Dermot Mulroney’s brother) pit the equally intelligent minds of Sherlock Holmes and Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris of Mad Men–he always manages to find a role where he doesn’t have to have an American accent) against one another in a succinct manifestation of what happens when one’s mental acuity is used for unseemly purposes.

Bromance.

The Mulroneys, who also co-wrote 2009′s mixed reviewed Paper Man, show massive progress in the span of just two years as this is only their second major feature. Of course, their rendering of lesser famed characters from the Sherlock Holmes series, such as the gypsy Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace), is also a distinguished touch. Rapace, who played Lisbeth in the original versions of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, makes a more versatile substitute for Rachel McAdams’ role as the primary female of the film.

On the scene.

Second only to the incisive writing in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is Stephen Fry’s performance as Mycroft Holmes, the witty master of the one-liner. Not to mention the memorable image of his nude ass onscreen. While a perfectly decent film, what is troubling about Sherlock Holmes is how distant Guy Ritchie’s usually recognizable voice seems to be. And so, I would say that I’m somewhat disappointed in Ritchie with this particular effort. I now finally know how Madonna feels.

It seems as though, with the advent of 2012, the collective world of pop culture has become more obsessed with the concept of time. With films like Melancholia and songs like Britney Spears’ “Till The World Ends,” so much is centered around an imminent demise. Andrew Niccol, known for writing films with a futuristic edge (Gattaca, The Truman Show, and Simone), plays up this notion of our preoccupation with the temporal in the script for In Time.

Promotional poster for In Time.

Starring pop music’s former prince, Justin Timberlake, as Will Salas, In Time illustrates a world divided into time zones numbered from one to twelve. The higher the zone, the less time people have to live. Every human is endowed with a clock from the moment he or she turns 25 years old that gives him or her one year to live. From that point onward, you have to work to earn additional seconds, hours, and minutes in order to stay alive–the tradeoff being that you will remain the way you look at 25 for the rest of your life. Those who live in the higher zones that are dubbed the ghettoes are forced to live from day to day, earning meager amounts of additional time by working menial jobs.

Another, more Alphaville-esque promotional poster for In Time.

New Greenwich is a time zone that the denizens of poverty-stricken Dayton can only dream about. It is a place where people have decades, even centuries, of time. One night at a bar with his friend, Borel (Johnny Bolecki), Will notices a man with an inordinate amount of time left on his clock–an entire century as a matter of fact–immediately making him stand out among the crowd. The man, who we later learn is named Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer), hails from the aforementioned promised land and is zeroed in on by a band of time thieves led by Fortis (Alex Pettyfer). While everyone else flees the scene, Will stays back to lurk in the shadows so that he can come to Henry’s rescue.

Dancing with an immortal.

It is through this happenstance that Henry decides to “clock out,” a.k.a. die, giving all of his time to Will as an over the top thank you for his generosity. Plus, he was just over the whole “living forever” scene. Knowing that New Greenwich is the only place that Will’s excess of time can go unnoticed, he heads out of zone 12 almost instantly. With no one to say goodbye to except Borel (his 50 year old mother, played by the impossibly youthful looking Olivia Wilde, died in his arms before he could give her more time), Will sets out to “take them for everything they’ve got.” And so the story shifts into an alternate version of Robin Hood, wherein Will vows to steal time from the “rich” who don’t need it.

Constantly on the run

Very much a mirror of our own sociopolitical foibles, Will learns that everything about human existence is rigged. Society is designed specifically for the poor to stay poor and the rich to stay rich, reiterating a much repeated theme, “For a few to be immortal, many must die.” Part of maintaining the system as it is, Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy, thank fuck he’s back), a “timekeeper” (which is really just a cop who prevents people from taking too much time out of one zone and into another), pursues Will vehemently until he finds him at a party thrown by one of the most affluent men in New Greenwich, Philippe Weis (Mad Men‘s Vincent Kartheiser). It is then that Will takes Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried), Philippe’s daughter, hostage (though, up until that second, they were getting along quite famously).

Another promotional poster for In Time.

Soon, the two are off on a Bonnie and Clyde type of rampage, stealing time from banks and doling it out to the people who live in the ghetto. All the while, Raymond and Philippe, are, for different reasons, adamant that the system cannot be changed, asserting that there is not enough resources for everyone to live as long as the wealthy. But that doesn’t stop Will and Sylvia from continuing their quest. Because to accept things as they are, in this reality and in In Time‘s, is to accept corruption and injustice. So yeah, movies set in the future sure have come a long way since Back to the Future. And, all I can say is, this is one dystopic film worth seeing. JT has definitely stepped up his game from Friends With Benefits.