Film Review: All The Money In The World

"I Hired You To Do Things That Other People Can't Or Won't Do..."

Whilst last year's Alien: Covenant offered up a pretty solid attempt at dragging the reputation of its' respective franchise through the gutter, the return of director Ridley Scott still manages to incite a cool sense of fangirl-esque anticipation, particularly when Alien and Blade Runner still remain undisputed masterpieces of cinema, and even though the American still hasn't hit the high notes his reputation is built on since perhaps American Gangster, the residual feeling of hope for his next classic still remains. Hampered in post production due to the widely publicised sexual harassment claims made against leading star at the time, Kevin Spacey, Scott's latest, All The Money In The World adds an extra layer of interest to its' release due to Scott's decision to recast Spacey's role as oil magnate, Jean Paul Getty, weeks before its' slated release. With Christopher Plummer willingly taking up the mantle left by the departed Spacey, Scott's nine day reshoots with the actor offers up fundamental questions of the quality of the final product, and whilst there is no doubting the manner in which Scott manages to carve out some decent performances from his trio of leading stars, All The Money In The World is a staggeringly underwhelming and mediocre affair, one which suffers from a wildly paced opening first half and a movie which once again reignites the issue of Scott's dedication of quantity over quality. 

With the movie assuming the audience has previous knowledge of the key players involved in the drama which occurs on-screen, David Scarpa's screenplay, based upon John Pearson's 1995 book, "Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty", essentially offers no fitting backstory or character development for any of the movie's leading players, with the first hour of the film a jaw-droppingly dull affair, unaided by amateurish editing which moves the action back and forth between a rafter of time settings in a manner both nauseating and convoluted that you begin to lose track and interest almost immediately on what the overall message and narrative endgame the film is attempting to convey. When the movie does finally settle down heading into the second hour however, the emergence of Plummer's brilliantly cold and inhumane performance as Getty and the back and forth presentation of hostage and hostage negotiator does becoming an interesting affair, but with the sloggish journey it takes you on to get there, Scott's movie doesn't have the sharpness or the nuance to be any more than just a mediocre examination of a story which in other hands may have been much more rewarding, and when a movie utilises the cliched usage of The Zombies' "Time of the Season" to represent the hippy free feel of the 1970's, you know it's going to be a rather laborious affair. 

Overall Score: 5/10