MovieChat Forums > In Time (2011) Discussion > Did no one seriously notice this plothol...

Did no one seriously notice this plothole?

posted 10 years ago by adnaankapadia
11 replies | jump to latest

Guys.

In the final chase when the Time Keeper is running after the two. He takes someones random car to chase after them. He catches upto them but his time runs out and he dies. The two lead characters then run to the car to get the wired time.

Lets assume that there is no kind of security and anyone can just ask for time in the cop car and get it.

Assuming the above, how is it that a random persons car turns out to be a cop car in the end?

[–] Lucy9596 10 years ago

how is it that a random persons car turns out to be a cop car in the end?

It's some time since I watched the film but didn't he take another cop's car?

EDIT after rewatching the two scenes: Yes, I'm sure it was the car of another cop but that will not answer the question why Will could get time from the dispatch or whatever it's called.

Will Graham: I don't find you that interesting.
Hannibal Lecter: You will.

[–] DanPhx 9 years ago

How about this (invented mechanics)...

When the TimeKeeper gets his per diem, he's asking for the transfer of time from Dispatch - more specifically, a person at Dispatch who recognizes his voice (i.e. would realize if a stranger's voice asked for per diem).

But, as you said, the per diem transaction was aborted before it completed.
PERHAPS it is a two step process. Dispatch person sends time to the car... then person in car gets time from the car (using the time transfer ring).

By the time Will asked for time, he was asking the car, not dispatch.
But why no voice recognition in the car (or other bio-identity mechanism)?
There is no really good answer for this (imo), so what should've happened ...

Will gets in car, puts his arm in the transfer ring (struggles not knowing the right thing to say) and the car happily gives up whatever time it had in its buffer, before he said anything at all.

99.99999% of the time, the Timekeeper is ready to take the time when dispatch shoots it over. The car would normally have zero in the buffer, so it would be futile for non-timekeepers to jump in a car and put their arm in the ring hoping for lightening to strike without being caught.

All that (invention) being said, still doesn't reasonably explain why the timekeeper abort the transfer of his time. Because he noticed the suspect? Naw. That's weak. PERHAPS if they had established that the transfer of time requires the receiver to be at rest (i.e. not in motion) -- time and position can't be variable at the same time! They could've even had a few arm to time box transfers delayed until one or the other was able to "keep still."

ADDING THAT (INVENTION).. Time keeper asks for per diem from Dispatch, dispatch (human) voice confirms the request is queued... chase continues, chase ends, car computer voice confirms receipt of the time into its time buffer (( BUT, timer keeper had already jumped out of car in pursuit -- big mistake )) .Voila .. car is ready to unload its time to Will when he puts his arm in the transfer ring.

or other?

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

A good question. Lucy above says it's a cop car, but there seem to be no clear indications it is and I'm wondering why a time-keeper's car would be sitting in the middle of the ghetto area any way. If it was, why wouldn't Raymond just jump in and tell the guy to follow them, instead of pulling him out and throwing him on the ground.🐭

[–] fluffchop 10 years ago

All Dodge Challengers are cop cars. The guy might have stolen the car I don't really care much. How the hell does he just hop in and say give me time when the cop always has to radio in and say send me some time. It's just a pretty weak ending really. I mean the cop is in the car, why not say send me some time before he goes running off. Why not grab his time as soon as he hops in the cop car, he knew he was running low. It's just pretty stupid but isn't the whole movie a bit silly. Like why ever would this chic decide to side with this ghetto punk in the first place? I'm sure there are a lot of things you could poke holes in with this.

---
Scientologists love Narnia, there's plenty of closet space.

[–] Lucy9596 10 years ago

I mean the cop is in the car, why not say send me some time before he goes running off.

True and he did demand his daily share but stopped when he saw the car with Timberlake. It was a mistake which he paid for with his life. Unfortunately.

Will Graham: I don't find you that interesting.
Hannibal Lecter: You will.

****

[–] HenryCW 10 years ago

I think Ray was some kind of head time-keeper since he had been in the job for so long, and so he simply asked the other cop to make way and took over the car. But that Will could simply go to the car and get a time transfer was indeed a plot hole. In a world in which all transactions are done in time, one would certainly expect precautionary or security measures to be built into the system. Shouldn't they at least require a password, PIN or code for the time transfer? You need those even for your credit cards and ATM cards.

[–] rr007c6396 10 years ago

I think it is plausible to assume that there could be some emergence facility for quickly dispensing a limited amount of time

[–] davethemathtutor 10 years ago

Good catch! I hadn't thought about that one.

But seriously, this movie has more holes than Swiss cheese.

[–] trevorandrewmillar 10 years ago

The cop radio'd dispatch and asked them to send him his "per diem", his daily allowance; in this universe, cops are paid daily, "per diem".

[–] GreyHunter 10 years ago

Not a plot hole.

1) Notice how many cars there were in the ghetto outside of their getaway car? I counted three: the Minutemen, the Timekeepers, and that one luxury car that Will called to pick him up. The Minutemen are dead, the luxury car wasn't called, so that leaves us with the extreme probability that any car we see will be one of the Timekeepers. We saw dozens of them at the checkpoint. Any or all of them could -- and would -- have moved into pursuit. The fact that one arrived just a bit after Will/Sylvia and Leon was not only feasible, but extremely likely. And when Leon commandeers the car and chases the two fugitives, we can clearly see it's a Timekeeper car, not only because all the Dodge Challengers are Timekeeper cars, but because it's flashing its lights.

2) It was made clear that time is sent upon voice command, and apparently sent immediately upon request, as we saw with Leon early in the movie. Yes, you can argue that they needed more safeguards, but that's not a plothole, just a discussion of the mechanics. I rather imagine the counterargument would be that they didn't fear anyone trying to take over a Timekeeper car -- social restrictions have beaten down the ghetto people and they seem rather pliable -- and that they operated on such a thin margin (per diem) that they didn't want to risk losing precious seconds with a confirmation set-up if a Timekeeper was down to near zero and needed an emergency transfer. I would imagine this would hold even more true with Leon, who was apparently extremely high up in the Timekeeper hierarchy, to the point where he felt perfectly comfortable taking over the house of the most powerful man in the zone, not to mention casually threatening to arrest him later.

So....not a plothole at all.

[–] LaZedBoy 9 years ago

Think of all the websites you go to and all the password hoops you have to jump through to accomplish something worth a tenth of a cent.

They didn't have password (or other) security on something so important as life & death? If not, all cop cars would be swarmed by desperate people at all times.

Spock! Form an away team! You, me, Bones, Scotty and umm... Ensign Smith!