Review: All The Money In The World (UK Cert 15)

In 1973, John Paul Getty III- grandson of oil tycoon and richest man in the world J. Paul Getty- was kidnapped in Italy, and a ransom demand for $17 million was issued. Just one problem: Getty refused to pay a penny. Paul's mother Gail and one of Getty's negotiators, Fletcher Chase, travelled to Italy to try and negotiate Paul's release without the old man's help. This unbelievable real-life story is the basis for All The Money In The World, directed by Ridley Scott. 

I want to start this review by addressing the elephant in the room. It's no secret that the film underwent extensive reshoots a month before its release, recasting the role of J. Paul Getty after the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct made against Kevin Spacey. Christopher Plummer (Scott's original choice for the role of Getty) was brought in to replace him, and there were nine days of reshoots in November 2017 to re-film the twenty-two scenes Getty appears in.  

To say that Christopher Plummer is an adequate replacement would be to do the gentleman a great disservice; Plummer steals the show. He is absolutely brilliant as Getty. He pulls off a weird balancing act: his Getty is weirdly effusive, welcoming his family in and having a strong relationship with Paul when he was younger; yet, he's also emotionally distant, caring more about the acquisition of wealth (in one particularly callous scene, Getty blithely spends $1.5million on a painting whilst Paul is at the point of being mutilated by his captors). It's a fascinating performance- Getty never comes across as miserly (despite washing his own underwear) or greedy, but he's still as much of a villain as the kidnappers. While we will probably never see Spacey's take on the character- Scott has said that Spacey's footage won't be officially released-  this is still a truly remarkable performance. 

But Plummer's is not the only superb turn in the film; Michelle Williams is equally strong as Paul's mother Gail. A Getty by marriage only- and divorced from Paul's father- she is thrown into a nightmarish world yet remains steadfast and determined to get her son back. Gail is no wilting wallflower, no passive hand-wringing damsel in distress- she's assertive and can play the game when she needs to; when an Italian newspaper receives a gruesome package pertaining to Paul's kidnapping, she cannily agrees to them publishing full details- so long as she can be paid in newspapers (one thousand copies are subsequently delivered to Getty's English country estate, to shame him into action). It's an assured performance and- in an awards season full of fascinating, complex female characters- is a particular highlight. 

Mark Wahlberg is pretty decent as Fletcher Chase, although he's not given an awful lot of character. He's a negotiator, he's been divorced multiple times and... that's really all we know. He gets a particularly strong scene towards the end where Chase- exasperated by Getty's intransigence- lays into the old man. Charlie Plummer (no relation to Christopher) is good as Paul; he's not a loud, bratty, entitled kid, he's a gentle, almost timid person. There are several tough scenes where Paul really goes through the wringer and you really feel for him. There's also a strong performance by Romain Duris as Cinquanta, one of Paul's kidnappers (who is sympathetic to the boy and tries to help him out). 

This is a sumptuous, good-looking film. Dariusz Wolski's cinematography is particularly good; the opening shot as Paul wanders through Rome before the abduction is beautifully done; scenes at Getty's English estate are opulent, all wood panelling and classical art. There are several standout sequences- the police raid on the compound is thrilling, and the final sequence involving Paul, Gail, Fletcher, the police and the kidnappers all running round the narrow, misty streets of a small Italian town is similarly pulse-racing. 

I do wonder how many people will go and see All The Money In The World just because of the Spacey controversy. I certainly can't imagine the decision to recast and reshoot so close to release was taken lightly, and- given such a tight turnaround- the entire crew is to be commended for getting everything shot and edited and ready in time. To be honest, it doesn't really matter why you're going to see the film. It's an intriguing story that's incredibly well told. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Tez 

Awards Season 2016: Directors' Guild Awards Nominees

Quick one today, as the Directors' Guild Awards announced its shortlist for their Feature Film category (to be handed out on February 6th)

The nominees are:

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)

Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

Adam McKay (The Big Short)

George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Ridley Scott (The Martian)

Last year, the DGA nominees named four of the five eventual Oscar Best Director nominees (with Bennett Miller as the curveball). Inarritu, McCarthy, Miller and Scott have been the names most mentioned this year, but interestingly it's Todd Haynes who usually makes up the quintet for Carol. 

Tomorrow, there's going to be a bit of fun when the Razzie Award nominations are out. What's the bets that Pixels and Fantastic Four will be all over it?

Programme 16 - Snow White And The Huntsman, Prometheus and Jaws

Programme 16 is now available (click here to view at VideoMajic.tv)!


We take a look at fairy-tale fantasy Snow White And The Huntsman, Tez finally gives his opinion on Prometheus and Rhys casts his eye over the re-issue of original summer blockbuster Jaws.


Podcast versions are here and here - podcast subscribers can also get not one, but two, exclusive chats - Rhys' review done straight after a midnight showing of Prometheus and an extended, geeky spoiler-y chat where we both discuss Ridley Scott's return to sci-fi.


Enjoy!

Alien (1979)

With the release of Prometheus, it seemed a good time to take a look back to the very beginning of the franchise with Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi/horror Alien.

The plot is basic: the seven-strong crew of the deep-space mining ship Nostromo make a detour to a planet to investigate a strange signal. Whilst on the planet, a member of crew is attacked by an alien being and has to be quarantined when back on the ship. However, the true horror begins when it is discovered that a deadly creature has stowed away on board the Nostromo and it becomes a fight to the death for the crew. But, in the true traditions of horror movies, not all will make it out alive…

Frankly, Alien has no right to be as good as it is. It is, in essence, a B-Movie haunted house picture set in space. But due to skilful direction by Scott, a brace of terrific performances across the board and some truly masterful strokes of design, the film transcends its commonplace beginning to become one of the most influential and highly thought of films of the 1970s and a seminal work in the study of horror.

Rewatching it recently after many years, it is a pleasant surprise that the film still stands up. It’s painfully slow in places- there’s no dialogue for the first six minutes, for example, and the scene where Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) goes after Jones the cat and meets his end is almost unbearable in places- but rather than fostering a sense of boredom, you are absolutely riveted to the screen.

The film is responsible for some of the most iconic moments in horror movies, most notably the ‘chest-burster’ scene which (even now) is shocking. Much like the fake scare at the end of Carrie, I know it’s coming but I still jump every time the alien pops out of Kane’s chest. The atmosphere of terror and confusion is only part acting; the legend persists that only Ridley Scott and John Hurt (who played Kane) knew exactly what was going to happen during the scene. This seems to be true in part; the full extent of the blood and gore seems not to have been known, so when Veronica Cartwright (who played Lambert) gets hit by a spurt of blood, her reaction is accurate and unplanned.

Because the film takes its time to introduce the true terror (the chest-burster scene is approximately forty-five minutes in), you do find yourself empathising with the characters, which means their deaths carry much more of an emotional response. Similarly, the revelation that crew member Ash (a wonderfully cold Ian Holm) has not only been fully aware of the Corporation’s plans from the get-go but is also an android carries a real impact- his final line of ‘you have my sympathies’ is chilling.

This was one of Sigourney Weaver’s first films- following a small role in Annie Hall- and, much like Anthony Perkins and Norman Bates, has become synonymous with the character of Ripley (although she seems to have escaped the curse of being associated with a single character). Ripley is ballsy and certainly holds her own but is by no means truly macho here. The more kick-ass Ripley would be seen in the further films, especially James Cameron’s 1986 sequel Aliens, but here her performance is brilliant, evincing a fragile femininity without ever truly becoming a passive horror-movie cliché ‘victim’.

Alien was nominated for two Academy Awards and rightly won Best Visual Effects. Led by Swiss artist H.R. Giger (whose designs for the main Alien creature have inspired a generation of nightmares), the effects of the film and especially the effects of the creature are just awe-inspiring even thirty-three years down the line. Scott cannily decided against too many full shots of the creature (played by Bolaji Badejo) as he didn’t want to reduce the film to ‘a man in a rubber suit’, so we get a very impressionistic view of the creature initially- the tail, the jaws (and the jaws-within-the-jaws)- making it much more terrifying. Even the confrontation between Ripley and the creature in the escape pod at the film’s final act doesn’t fully show the creature. It remains almost elusive and therefore much more frightening.

The word ‘masterpiece’ gets thrown around a little too liberally for my liking, but for me Alien is a masterpiece. A strong visual style, a committed director, a cast at the height of their powers, real tension, real flair, a damn good script… all elements combined here and has created a film that has endured and will continue to endure.

Tez