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BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated All the Money in the World (2017) in Movies

Feb 14, 2018  
All the Money in the World (2017)
All the Money in the World (2017)
2017 | Crime, Drama, Thriller
7
6.9 (15 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Bland with the exception of Christopher Plummer
By now, almost everyone knows about the last minute switch of Christopher Plummer in place of current-pariah Kevin Spacey as pivotal Billionaire J. Paul Getty in Ridley Scott's ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD, so when I checked out Plummer's Oscar nominated turn, I couldn't but help see if I could tell when Scott put in a new scene and where he just "augmented" his scenes with Plummer. And then, a funny thing happened...

I stopped looking at this for I was captivated by Plummer's performance.

A 3 time Oscar nominee (he is the oldest person to win an Academy Award - at the age of 82 - for his Supporting Role in BEGINNERS in 2010), the 88 year old Plummer shows that he can still command a movie for anytime he is on screen this film crackles and becomes interesting.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the rest of the film.

Telling the story of the kidnapping of Getty's grandson, and the "richest man in the world's" refusal to pay the ransom, ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD stars Charlie Plummer (no relation) as John Paul Getty III (the kidnapped grandson), Mark Wahlberg as "fixer" Fletcher Chase, who was told by Getty to get his grandson back for "the lowest possible cost", Romain Duris as one of the kidnappers and the great Michelle Williams as the mother of the kidnapped boy - and the daughter-in-law of Getty, Gail Harris. Each one of these performances are good, but not great. Doing what needs to be done in what they are given to do but nothing more.

I think the problem with this film is one of focus. It spends about 50% of the time with William's character - and this is fine, but then it jumps to the kidnapped son, to "the fixer", to "the kidnapper", to the grandson and back to the mother, so no real through-line, continuity or strong character development can occur, with the exception of Christopher Plummer's J. Paul Getty. To be fair to Williams, C. Plummer has the showier role and she is just asked to be the center of this tale, the world in which all else revolves and that, ultimately, makes her character somewhat bland.

I place the blame for this on Screenwriter David Scarpa (based on the book by John Pearson) and Director Scott. I think their reach exceeded their grasp on this one. If they could have focused more on one of the characters - instead of spreading things out - perhaps this film would have become more interesting and less bland. It stays on one note - despite jumping to different people in vastly different situations - throughout it's 2 hour and 15 minute time frame.

All in all, a missed opportunity. It is a decent film that had the potential to be VERY good. The only one who was VERY good was Christopher Plummer - and certainly his performance is worth the price of admission.

Letter Grade: B

7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (OfMarquis)
  
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John David Washington recommended Man on Fire (2004) in Movies (curated)

 
Man on Fire (2004)
Man on Fire (2004)
2004 | Action, Drama, Mystery
7.7 (14 Ratings)
Movie Favorite Watch

"Man on Fire, I think what Tony Scott did was ahead of his time, revolutionary. I mean, as far as how he shot it and how he used and maximized his ability to shape a film with sound. He would loop in, like, tiger, animal noises with Lupita Ramos’ scream. He put in a foreshadowing scene, like when we first see Creasy in the cab with the beard, and he flashes to the end when he dies, and then he flashes back to the cab scene, and we didn’t even know. It took me like four times to realize, “Oh, that was at the end!” And just getting introduced to Mexico in that way, how he captured it. How he captured the performances of Christopher Walken and Mr. Washington. It was like an indie film, and then it turned into this beautiful action film in the same movie. To me it was the perfect film. It was the perfect balance of art and commerce. You could sell this thing, but again, like Dances with Wolves, he didn’t compromise anything for the sake of story. Again, how he used language, too., When they’re speaking Spanish, but how he kind of had it where you can read the subtitles — how he did that, and how he mixed sounds and mixed music. I think it’s a perfect film. I love that film. I really do."

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