Review of All the Money in the World (2017) by Leon B — 13 Aug 2018

All The Money In The World.

(2017).

Plot:

All the Money in the World follows the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer) and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother, Gail (Michelle Williams), to convince his billionaire grandfather (Christopher Plummer) to pay the ransom. When Getty Sr. refuses, Gail attempts to sway him as her son's captors become increasingly volatile and brutal. With her son's life in the balance, Gail and Getty Sr.'s advisor (Mark Wahlberg) become unlikely allies in the race against time that ultimately reveals the true and lasting value of love over money.

Review:

When I saw the cast in this movie, along with the top director, I had high expectations for this film but I wasn't that impressed with the outcome. Don't get me wrong, it's full of intensity from the beginning to the end, and there are some good performances from Plummer and Williams but like many movies that were released this year, it just seemed too long and the plot went round and round in circles. I didn't know anything about the John Paul Getty III kidnapping, so I was quite surprised that the plot was true but from an entertainment point of view, I expected more from Ridley Scott, who has been letting me down of late. Anyway, the movie is set in 1973, and it begins with a 16-year-old John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer) wandering around the streets of Rome, without a care in the world. After chatting to a couple of prostitutes on the street, John is kidnapped by an organised crime ring, who demand a $17million ransom from his Billionaire grandfather, Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer), who was at that time the world's richest private citizen. The movie then flashes back to 1971, when Paul's parents, Gail Harris (Michelle Williams) and John Paul Getty Jr. (Andrew Buchan), were divorced, due to John's drug addiction and womanising. Gail rejected any alimony in exchange for full custody of her children in the divorce settlement, so she hasn't got any way to pay the ransom. She turns to Paul Getty for help with paying the kidnappers but he refuses to pay them, stating that it would encourage further kidnappings on his family. With the media paying much attention to the kidnapping, Paul turns to his Getty Oil negotiator, and former CIA agent operative, Fletcher Chace (Mark Wahlberg), to investigate the case and secure Paul's release. Meanwhile, Getty III is held hostage in a remote location in Italy, and one of the kidnappers, Cinquanta (Romain Duris), take a shine to him because of his quiet and submissive demeanour. After waiting ages for the ransom to be paid, they decide to move Getty III to another location. Meanwhile, Fletcher manages to track down the kidnapper's whereabouts but they have already moved to there new location, where they have sold Paul Getty III to a more ruthless set of kidnappers. With Cinquanta negotiating with Gail over the phone, they drop the ransom but she still can't come up with the money. The kidnappers then send the newspapers Getty III left ear, to show that they mean business, and after some harsh words between Fletcher and Paul Getty, the Oil Tycoon finally agrees to pay the ransom. Basically, the whole situation could have been dealt with much sooner, if Paul Getty wasn't so tight with his money but I can understand the principle in why he didn't want to pay them after the first demand. His unemotional demeanour, even though he kept on saying that Getty III was his favourite grandchild, really did surprise me throughout the film but it was obvious that he had to crack at the end. The director could have shown how horrendous the situation was from Getty III point of view, which would have made the long kidnapping seem more intense. Anyway, Michelle Williams and Christopher Plummer put in a top performance, and it was good to see Wahlberg not showing off his muscles, or blowing anything up for a change. I also liked Romain Duris, who played Cinquanta because he brought some authenticity to the movie, and he seemed to be the only person who really cared about Getty III, except for his mother of course. Although Getty had all of the money in the world, he really was a lonely person, who died of heart-related problems before he got to see his grandson. Surpringsly, he left Gail to manage her children's inherited wealth until they are of age, and she is told that his company was set up as a charitable trust, which meant that Getty's income was tax-free but not spendable. After such an emotional ordeal, we don't get to see how it takes it's toll on the family because the director chose to spend most of the time concentrating on the kidnapping. Personally, I was more interested in Paul Getty than the kidnapping because his story was quite amazing. Anyway, it's another one of those movies that's worth a one-watch but once you know the outcome, you won't be wanting to watch it again. Average!

Round-Up:

With Kevin Spacy having to pull out at the last minute because of the sexual misconduct allegations, Ridley Scott only had a month to reshoot all of his scenes, with the newly cast Christopher Plummer as J. Paul Getty. What A Task! Everyone thought that it would have been easier to ditch the project, especially as the advertising campaign was due to start within a month but Ridley Scott used the scenes that he already had shot, and added some new shots with Plummer to make the deadline. Personally, I couldn't imagine anyone else playing J. Paul Getty! Anyway, everyone is familiar with Ridley Scott's previous work, which includes the fantastic Alien franchise, although the new ones are a bit lame, the Blade Runner franchise, Legend, Black Rain, Thelma & Louise, White Squall, G.I. Jane, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Hannibal, Kingdom Of Heaven, American Gangster, Body Of Lies, Robin Hood, The Counsellor, Exodus and the Martian. He's kind of lost his touch of late, especially with the latest Alien movies but at 80 years old, and 8 projects in the pipeline, he's not showing any signs of slowing down. He's known for getting what he wants when it comes to directing but I personally find him moody and miserable. With that aside, he has made some of the biggest movies of all time, and he has been nominated for 4 Oscars for the Martian, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator and Thelma & Louise but he's always been beaten at the post. I'm sure he will get a lifetime achievement award, at some point but he has a long way to go to meet the standards that he was hitting with his previous blockbusters. Average!

Budget: $50million.

Worldwide Gross: $57million.

Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama.

Cast: Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Romain Duris, Timothy Hutton, Charlie Plummer, Andrew Buchan, Marco Leonardi and Giuseppe Bonifati. 6/10.