All the Money in the World

Dir Ridley Scott

Written by David Scarpa, John Pearson

Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Charlie Plummer, Romain Duris, Timothy Hutton.

In 1974, J P Getty (Christopher Plummer) is the richest man in the world. He is cold, calculated, and only cares about making money. He cares little for his family, and when his Grandson Paul (Charlie Plummer) is kidnapped, and held for ransom for $17m, he refuses to pay.

Paul’s mother Gail (Williams) is now tasked with negotiating with not only the kidnappers, but with her ex father in law – who cut her off financially years ago after her divorce from his son.

This was a very well executed drama, with almost all the central acting team doing brilliant work. Williams is simply outstanding as Gail, who is martyred due to how the media perceived her as cold and cruel for not paying the ransom as she had no money. The cadence of her speech patterns and her nuanced delivery was outstanding. It is apparently clear why she has FIVE Academy Award nominations under her belt. How she was not given a nod for this work is a travesty.

Plummer as J Paul Getty, was also brilliant, and considering he came on board just weeks before the film was released, and filmed his part in a matter of days is also extraordinary. This was obviously due to the contravesy around Kevin Spacey who played Getty originially. There are one or two moments in the film that Plummer’s face was superimposed onto Spacey’s body that was a bit distracting, but nonetheless, this was a worthy Oscar nominated performance.

There are some confronting scenes during the junior Getty’s imprisonment, including where he is tortured. Considering this is based on true events, it does give a sense of empathy to what this poor kid went through. While there is some sense of compassion that one of his captives grew close with the boy, it begs the question whether this was for Hollywood or was it true? As some of the historic events depicted here are fictionalised, this too may be fabricated.

The only real fault I found in the performances was that of Wahlberg. He is fine here, but when all the other players are giving 110% performances, his 80% feels underwhelming. 4/5