Time
Time is the main theme of this film. Everyone, once had an equal amount in a day, until it was made a commodity which is hoarded by the uber rich and stripped from the poor. Time is the one thing that equalizes everyone on earth and the elite have stolen the one thing that would allow the poor to change the economic system and provide growth, healing and opportunity for all.
Systemic Poverty
Niccol's film deals with how the elite of the world have capitalized on the resource of time and turned it into a commodity they control. The story peals back the curtain to reveal that gang violence (to rob people of time), poverty and unnecessary deaths occur daily as a result of those with the most power/time hoarding it in order to keep those with less in a position of submission to their economic will, which in this case is time and not money, and this reveals they have complete control over the very lives of each person beneath them.
Injustice
Injustice is a major theme in this film, as we watch Will and eventually Sylvia fight to bring down the corruption of the greedy elitists who hoard time while the poor die groveling for minutes to live every single day. Indeed, injustice provides capital for these elite players, as they are able to suppress an uprising against them because they literally control lives with using time as the form of payment. The only way for the poor to survive is to work for the elite to earn daily time. This injustice causes the poor to be unable to focus on anything more than living that day, and prevents an uprising.
