In Time

By the year 2169, people are genetically  engineered to stop aging when they turn   twenty-five. Once that happens, a timer appears  on their arm with only one year left. To keep on   living they must work, since time is now society's  currency. This means rich people are effectively   immortal. The country has been divided into areas  called "time zones" to separate the different   classes, the richest area being "New Greenwich".  Meanwhile in the ghetto, Will lives with his   mother Rachel on a tiny apartment, and they barely  have any money left to survive each day. Will   wants to make some money on the side through  time-fighting, but Rachel forbids it because   it never ends well. This doesn't stop Will from  being a generous person, and whenever he bumps   into young Maya on the streets, he gives her some  of his time so she can survive too. Will and his   best friend Borel work at the local factory, where  they're always rising the prices of the snacks   and it's common to find dead people that timed  out on the floor. They're all paid by the day,   but the factory always comes up with an excuse  for why their employees didn't meet their quota   and pay them less. One evening, Will goes to a bar  where he used to gamble to get an hour a guy owed   him. He also meets Borel, who is happily getting  drunk thanks to a crazy guy that is buying drinks   for everyone. This guy is Henry, whose timer has a  whole century. Will doesn't understand what a rich   man is doing here and tries to warn him about the  Minutemen, a group of gangsters that steal other   people's time, but Henry doesn't listen. Just as  Will fears, gang leader Fortis shows up and asks   Henry for a time-fight. Everyone else in the bar  runs away except for Will, who hides at the back   just in case. Henry accepts the challenge but asks  for a moment in the bathroom first. Just one guard   goes with him, so Will takes the chance to knock  the gangster out and escape with Henry through the   back door. They run down a few blocks and hide  inside an abandoned factory, which Will locks   from the inside to be safe for the night. Will  wonders what a rich guy is doing in the ghetto,   and Henry admits he left New Greenwich because  he's 105 years old and tired of living. When   Will points out this is stupid, Henry's amused  by the boy's lack of understanding of the world.   He explains the cost of living keeps rising in the  ghetto to make sure people keep dying, because the   rich can only live if the poor die. Eventually  Henry and Will fall asleep, and in the morning,   Henry takes advantage of waking up first to pass  all his time to Will, only keeping five minutes   to himself. Will wakes up shortly afterward and  finds a message on the window saying "don't waste   my time". When he looks out, he sees Henry  sitting on the bridge right before he times   out. Without noticing there are security cameras  around, Will goes to the bridge to make sure Henry   is dead before running away. Moments later,  Henry goes to Borel's house, where he bumps   into Borel's wife Greta and their new baby. Henry  talks to Borel in private and gifts him a decade,   which matches the ten years they've known each  other. In the evening, Henry goes to wait for his   mother at the bus stop, but she never arrives. It  turns out Rachel only has an hour and a half left,   and the bus fare went up in the afternoon, so  now she can't afford it. It's a two-hour walk   to return home, meaning Rachel must run if she  wants to see her son again, Will also starts   running when realizes what's going on. Mother and  son collide into each other in the middle of the   street, but unfortunately it's too late and Rachel  times out in Will's arms. The next morning, the   police force known as Timekeepers finds Henry's  body in the river. Agent Leon is sure he's been   murdered for his time, and orders his men to check  the security footage. Because of the angle of the   cameras, they can't see the body falling, but they  do see Will's face and assume he's behind Henry's   death. Meanwhile Will wants to avenge his mother's  death. He hires a limo pretending to be a rich guy   that got lost and makes the driver take him to  New Greenwich, which means paying an extremely   high toll every time he crosses a border. Once he  makes it to the city, he stays in a nice hotel,   and his presence is noticed by socialite Sylvia.  After resting, Will has some food while Sylvia   watches him from afar. The waitress can tell Will  isn't from around here but she treats him well   because he tips her generously, she also points  out that if Will's going to the casino, he'll need   better clothes. The fact that Will crossed so many  timezones in a few hours appears suspicious in   the system, allowing the Timekeepers to find his  current location. Leon also realizes he's chased   Will's father in the past. In the evening, Will  buys a proper suit and goes to the casino, where   they ask for a "voluntary donation" of a year  because he isn't a member. Will joins the poker   table where he meets Mr. Weis, a time-loaning  businessman that doesn't hesitate to bet high   amounts of time. Sylvia, who is Weis' daughter,  also comes to the table but only to watch, and   Will keeps an eye on her while taking the risk and  betting all he has. This turns out to be worth it   because Will wins the game, which impresses Weis  and earns Will an invitation to his next party.   The next day, Will buys a very expensive car and  drives it to Weis' party. Sylvia is very curious   about Will and invites him to dance, telling  him she can see he's probably from the ghetto.   She admits she sometimes envies people from the  ghetto because she lives always surrounded by her   father's guards without real freedom, and she  wishes she could do something foolish or worth   something. Will drags her to the beach behind the  house to go skinny-dipping, which should count as   something foolish. Sylvia's hesitant at first, but  soon joins him in the water and they discuss the   possibility of doing more foolish things. When  people begin looking for Sylvia, she hides with   Will in a cave and asks him to go back before they  get into trouble. The pair returns to the mansion   through different doors to avoid suspicion. Weis  invites Will to play poker, but they're suddenly   interrupted by the Timekeepers, who found  Will's location by following the purchase   of his car. Will is taken to a private office  for interrogation, but when he tells them about   Henry timing out on purpose, they don't believe  him and take most of his time, leaving him with   only two hours for booking and processing. Leo  tells Will he reminds him a lot of his father,   who Will doesn't remember well. Weis and  Sylvia come to check on the situation, and Will   takes advantage of the distraction to beat the  Timekeepers up and steal a gun before escaping.   He uses the gun to grab Sylvia as his hostage, and  they run through the back door to leave in Will's   car. Leon begins chasing Will throughout the city  and even manages to hit his car from behind, but   Will responds by driving backward. He manages to  dodge a truck at the last second, but Leon doesn't   react so fast and crashes against it, meaning  Will gets to escape. As they make their way to the   ghetto, Will asks Sylvia for some time, but she  refuses to help him. When they reach the bridge,   Will gets distracted by the security cameras and  doesn't see the spike strip on the ground, which   causes the car to crash. Both Will and Sylvia fall  unconscious and minutes later, they're found by   Fortis and his men, who immediately begin stealing  Sylvia's time. At that moment, the Timekeepers'   sirens can be heard approaching, and the gangsters  run away, leaving Sylvia with only half an hour.   When they wake up, Sylvia freaks out at the little  time she has left and asks Will for help. Will   finds it ironic how she's now in favor of sharing,  but helps her anyway before taking her into town.   After they're gone, the Timekeepers arrive to  inspect the car, although Leon first needs to   ask for his daily pay, because he never carries  more time than necessary. Seeing the situation,   Leon decides not to chase after Will anymore  because he's sure he'll contact them first. Will   goes to see Borel to ask for help, but Greta has  bad news: Borel drank so much that he died with   nine years still on his timer. Sylvia starts  freaking out again, but Will notices she has   fancy earrings and drags her to the pawn shop.  The owner is about to close, but he makes an   exception when he sees how valuable the rings  are. He also notices how desperate they're for   time and only pays them two days, which they  have no choice but to accept to survive. Next,   they go to a pay phone and Will makes Sylvia  dial her house's phone so he can talk to Leon.   As a ransom, Will asks for a thousand years to be  distributed to the Time Lines in the ghetto. Leon   warns Will that he's becoming too much like his  father and reveals the man didn't die during a   time-fight like Will thinks, he actually was doing  something more dangerous. Will hangs up on him,   and Leon tells Sylvia's parents of the ransom, but  Weis hesitates to give away even what for him is   pocket change. Will takes Sylvia to his apartment  to spend the night there, and Sylvia changes into   Rachel's old clothes. Sylvia asks Will about  his father, and Will explains his dad used to   be an excellent time-fighter that taught him a few  tricks. To prove his point, he grabs Sylvia's arm   and shows him how to time-fight, it's a battle  of wills between timers. His dad taught him to   let the opponent think they have the upper hand,  let his own clock almost reach zero, and when the   opponent is distracted by his incoming death, turn  the tables and take it all. Will used to think his   dad died on a time-fight, but he now realizes he  was probably killed because he gave away what he   won. Then Will and Sylvia shared what happened on  their twenty-fifth birthdays: Will's timer started   when he was on the street and he quickly almost  lost his extra year because they were in debt. In   contrast, Sylvia had a peaceful awakening in bed  and her dad gave her a decade to celebrate. The   next morning, Will watches the Time Line building  from the window, but unfortunately they don't have   any charity to share, meaning Weis didn't pay  the ramson. Sylvia's hurt by her father's lack   of care but finally understands he became rich  by stomping on other people's rights. Will tells   her to go home but Sylvia refuses, causing them to  accept to work together and kiss. Sylvia does want   to call home though, so Will gives her the gun to  protect herself while he watches from the corner.   Weis quickly picks up Sylvia's call and ignores  her insults to warn her the Timekeepers are coming   to get her. When Sylvia turns around, she sees  Leon approaching Will, thus she shoots him in the   arm. Will takes the chance to check Leon's timer  and learns Timekeepers don't keep much time with   them to discourage thieves, this prompts Will to  give Leon some time in order for his coworkers to   rescue him. While Will and Sylvia escape in Leon's  car, Leon begins walking out of town as everyone   yells at him for not protecting the little people.  Thankfully his fellow keeper rescues him before   things get violent. Sometime later Sylvia points  out they can't keep driving in a cop car, which   gives Will an idea. He pretends to be a Timekeeper  to stop another car by the road and then they   proceed to steal the rich lady's earrings and  her time, leaving her with only one day before   running away in her car. Once they're far enough  from town, they stop the car to watch the news and   they discover they're now wanted people. Will once  again tells Sylvia to go back, but she refuses   because doing this is much more fulfilling.  Meanwhile Weis is lying to his investors, telling   them everything is under control. Leon shows up  to inform him this isn't a kidnapping anymore,   now Sylvia is being chased after like a criminal  as well. Weis tries to bribe Leon into changing   his mind, but Leon turns him down and reminds him  that if Sylvia gets in contact with him, he needs   to tell the keepers, otherwise he'll be arrested  for being an accomplice. Later, Sylvia asks Will   if he truly would give away time if he had it.  When Will confirms he would, she comes up with   a plan. The pair proceeds to steal a Weis money  truck and they crash it into a time bank, where   they steal as many time capsules as they can. The  remaining capsules are left for the people in the   ghetto to grab. By the time the Timekeepers  arrive, there's nothing left. In the evening,   Greta finds a time capsule among her laundry,  left by Will as an apology. Will also visit Maya,   who is sleeping on the streets, and he leaves  some extra time for her as well. The rest of the   time they stole is taken to the Time Line for the  clerk to distribute among anyone that needs it.   At the Timekeepers' office, Leon notices there's  time that shouldn't be there and he thinks Will's   hurting the very people he's trying to help. The  next morning, Fortis tries to rob a man, but the   guy can finally stand up for himself because  he bought a gun. Fortis pretends to let him go,   but as soon as the guy turns around, he shoots the  man anyway. When Fortis checks the guy's timer,   he's shocked to see he's wasted a lot of time.  Will and Sylvia begin robbing time banks all   over the place, and their adventures appear on the  news. Weis wonders if his daughter was trying to   kill him, but his wife points out that Weis almost  killed her first by suffocating her. A week later,   Leon and his men finally find Will's apartment  and get ready to arrest them. However Will hears   the radio chatter from the window and immediately  runs away with Sylvia, bursting into a different   apartment to jump through a window at the back  of the building, not getting hurt thanks to a   safe landing on top of a car. Leon copies them  and starts to chase them through town, and when   Will and Sylvia take the chase to the roofs, Leon  opens fire on them. Will shoots back but fails,   so he and Sylvia get off the roofs and take the  bus. The driver considers the idea of handing   them to the authorities, but Will bribes him into  silence and they get to leave Leon behind. A few   hours later, Will and Sylvia check in at a hotel,  paying extra to have all the rooms and for the   receptionist not to tell anyone. When a new client  comes in, he's told the hotel is fully booked,   but he manages to get a quick view of Will and  Sylvia going upstairs. Later, Fortis and his   men begin threatening people on the streets for  information on Will and Sylvia. At first people   stay silent because they want to protect their  savors, but Fortis then kills a man to show how   serious he is. This inspires the guy from the  hotel to confess what he saw. At the hotel,   Will and Sylvia learn that the reward for their  heads is ten years, which they consider pretty   insulting. Suddenly Fortis bursts into the room  with his men and hold the couple at gunpoint   while Fortis explains the Timekeepers leave him  alone because he steals from his own people,   so now he must restore order. He claims he  doesn't like killing people in cold blood   and challenges Will to a time-fight. Will uses the  trick his father taught him and when Henry begins   looking at his timer, Will begins taking all his  time. The guards come closer to watch in shock,   and Will takes the chance to shoot them all  before he makes Fortis time out for good. By the   time the Timekeepers arrive at the hotel, Will  and Sylvia are already gone. Some hours later,   Will notices prices and loan rates are being  raised faster to make up for the new time on   the streets. Their little robberies aren't making  a difference, they would need a whole million   years to even make a crack. Fortunately, Sylvia  knows where to find such an amount. The next day,   Weis is worried about the situation and goes to  work surrounded by more bodyguards than usual.   The guards suddenly turn around when they detect a  threat, but it's just Sylvia announcing she wants   to surrender. Weis believes her and is ready to  take her back, this distraction allows Will to   sneak behind him and capture him as a hostage.  Then Will and Sylvia take Weis to his office to   make him open the safe where he keeps a capsule  with one million years. Weis points out that   giving a year to a million people only prolongs  their agony and that flooding the wrong Zone with   a million years could cripple the system, so Will  clarifies that's exactly what he wants to happen.   Will and Sylvia escape after locking Weis in his  own office. When the Timekeepers learn about the   robbery they immediately go after them, blocking  the bridge to stop them from returning to the   ghetto. Leon is chasing them as well and when he  finds them, he concentrates so much on them that   he forgets to get his daily pay. The keepers open  fire on them but Will just ignores the bullets at   drives through the time zone barrier, allowing  him to reach the ghetto. Leon wastes no time and   crashes his car against theirs. Will immediately  leaves the vehicle and gives the million years   capsule to Maya before he and Sylvia pretend to  surrender. A smug Leon thinks he's won, but at   that moment, the Time Line announces there's time  for everyone, and an eager crowd fills the street,   getting in Leon's way and allowing Sylvia and Will  to run away. Leon pushes people aside to get back   in his car and go after the robbers, but when  they cross another barrier, Leon has to follow   them on foot. Eventually he catches up to them,  and Will guesses Leon used to be from the ghetto   too. Leon confirms this and explains he worked  hard to get out, which is how things should be,   then he tries to arrest them. Will points out  there's no point because he and Sylvia only have   a few minutes left, so they'll die soon anyway.  This makes Leon check his own timer and realizes   he doesn't have much time either because he didn't  collect his pay. At that instant, his clock times   out and Leon dies right there on the road. Will  and Sylvia only have seconds left, and they kiss   to say goodbye. However Will realizes the keepers  have time in their vehicles, so he runs to Leon's   car to take some for himself. Sylvia isn't as fast  as him and fears she won't make it, but Will runs   back to her and they meet halfway, allowing them  to share time before death catches them. Back   in the company, Weis has given up and tells his  employees not to do anything because it's over.   Newscasts all over the nation show how people  have taken to the streets. The factories lie idle,   and people are crossing the zones to make it  to New Greenwich. Authorities swear everything   is under control, but everyone knows the system  will soon collapse. At the Timekeepers' office,   the employees decide to go home because there's  nothing they can do. Will and Sylvia are never   caught, and they start going after bigger  banks to keep the old system from coming back.