Friday, January 12, 2018

All the Money in the World (2017)

Director: Ridley Scott. Cast: Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg, Christopher Plummer, Romain Duris, Charlie Plummer, Timothy Hutton. 132 min. Rated R. Biography/Crime.

The true hostage-taking story of 16-year-old Paul Getty III, grandson of "the world's richest private citizen", set in a dark 70's mood reminiscent of Spielberg's Munich. Scott's latest ponders: compared to money itself, what is anything worth? When that's the goal, worrying about ethics, honor, family, shame, ... is not only meaningless, it's laughable - highly conceivable as Trump's modus operandi, and possibly Scott's target. While Plummer's performance is laudable, his last-minute replacement of disgraced Kevin Spacey is both distracting (which scene is CGI?), and overshadows the true powerhouse act delivered by Williams, as the mother desperate to secure her son's release.

PS: Can you believe Ridley Scott? Eighty-year-old filmmaker delivering both a decent sixth blockbuster episode of a franchise, and a Trump-themed movie about greed with a sudden switch of an actor at the final moment, all in the same year. The man is a true gem.

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