All the Money in the World

Over the course of my blog I've really enjoyed watching Ridley Scott's vast filmography with each project offering something different from the last. Whereas some directors repeat themselves in one way or another to the point they blend in with the rest, Scott continues to this day to be creative and offer something new even his ideas aren't always successful.

2017 was a busy year from him with the release of Alien: Covenant and also All the Money in the World, which required extensive reshoots following the Kevin Spacey scandal as Christopher Plummer was brought in to save the film from a box office disaster. The latter was Scott's depiction of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III in Italy during the 1970s who was the grandson to the incredible wealthy John Paul Getty who refused to pay the ransom. Plummer stars as the victorian grandfather, Michelle Williams as the mother trying to convince her estranged father-in-law to help bring her son home, and a spectacled Mark Wahlberg as the former CIA now advisor to the family trying to assist.

I've yet to see the acclaimed series Trust that is based on the same events and went into this film only knowing a few details so I was keen to see how Scott would explore the public scandal that caught the world by storm. I started the film excited and came out somewhat disappointed. Make no mistake, Scott is an expert a spinning plates and he handles the drama with a great, steady confidence for a highly watchable experience but there perhaps wasn't enough meat in the story to suit the director's style.

The film's real strength is with Plummer's fantastic work as Getty who steals the film and perhaps the story would have been better suited as a biopic about his rise to success with the kidnapping forming the third act. He should have been the focus because whenever the camera moves away the film begins to nose-dive. I could go on but what we're given struggles to offer something new and the fictionalised conclusion which moves events that were years apart into seemingly one night feels like a cheap move when the facts supposedly wouldn't do.

All the Money in the World is still an engaging drama but survives by the strength of its performances with Plummer, who is the real reason to see this, and an underused Michelle Williams. If you've already seen the TV series or are familiar with the events, there isn't enough here to quite justify watching this. However even on a bad day, Scott can still rival most on their best.