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| Michelle Williams in "All the Money in the World" Photo Credit: Imdb.com |
The behind-the-scenes narrative of Ridley Scott’s crime-thriller, “All the Money in the World,” became one of the most-memorable Hollywood stories of 2017. After sexual misconduct allegations were made against Kevin Spacey, who was originally cast in the role of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, he was cut out of the already-finished movie, and the role had to be recast and the character’s scenes reshot. Christopher Plummer (who was said to be Scott’s first choice for the part, until studio executives persuaded him to go with a bigger name), was cast, and he proceeded to film his scenes in 10 days.
Because of these unexpected events, this movie could have easily been a disaster, but it all comes together with some strong performances, a nail-biting true story, and tense direction from Scott.
In 1973, 16-year-old John Paul Getty III, (Charlie Plummer, no relation to Christopher Plummer), grandson of oil magnate J. Paul Getty, is kidnapped in Rome by an organized gang, who demands a ransom of $17 million. When John’s mother, Gail Harris (Michelle Williams), asks her father-in-law if he can pay the ransom, he refuses and instead hires his negotiator and former CIA operative Fletcher Chase (Mark Wahlberg) to track down John Paul and his abductors.
Michelle Williams is one of the most-talented actresses of her generation, as she’s able to bring such emotional power to her roles and has the ability to change a movie with just one scene, which she exemplified last year in “Manchester by the Sea.” For all of Williams’ performances that I’ve seen, she never feels the need to overact in any of her roles, always manages to provide the perfect amount of vigor to make her characters memorable. In her latest role, Williams does well in displaying the anxiety of the scenario, one that a parent shouldn’t have to experience, but also shows us the iron will of a mother who will do anything to get her son back and refuses to let the reporters see her cry. This is a performance that will keep you caught up in the tension of the situation, such is the strength of Williams’ acting abilities.
Christopher Plummer delivers a fierce performance as the money-grubbing, spiteful billionaire. The way he assimilates into the role is astonishing, considering the small amount of time he had to prepare. Given how quickly Plummer was able to reshoot his scenes, I was thinking that his character would only have about 10 minutes or so of screen time, but it turns out that he has much more than that, which makes this accomplishment all the more impressive. However, we probably shouldn’t be surprised that a world-class actor like Plummer is able to tackle this role at a moment’s notice with such menacing power. His character’s a shadow of greed that hangs over the film, and whenever Plummer’s on screen, you feel the oppressiveness of J. Paul Getty’s miserly ways, all of which are conveyed through Plummer’s subdued intensity.
While Mark Wahlberg provides okay work, it’s one of his usual performances where some of his lines have that odd cool-guy inflection that makes bits of his dialogue sound funny when they shouldn’t be. And it doesn’t help that the performances from Williams and (Christopher) Plummer tower over his.
Despite being a young actor and relative unknown, Charlie Plummer does a terrific job at holding his own in a production from a top-tier filmmaker like Scott. If his work in this film is anything to go by, Plummer has a strong career ahead of him.
Romain Duris provides a great supporting performance as Cinquanta, one of Getty’s abductors. I won’t go into too much detail, but the movie constructs an intriguing relationship between him and Getty, as we see that Cinquanta begins to care for Getty and turns out to be more of a father figure to him than Getty’s own father and grandfather.
The screenplay by David Scarpa, which is based on John Pearson’s 1995 book, “Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty,” goes between the past and present throughout the first quarter of the movie, allowing us to learn about the Getty family and how J. Paul Getty rose to stratospheric riches, as well as the reasons behind his obscene greed and materialism, with one of the best flashbacks being when J. Paul Getty walks with John Paul through some ruins and gives his “blood of emperors” monologue. Once the flashbacks are finished, the present story transitions between the plights of John Paul Getty III and Gail, giving us a detailed look into Gail’s search and what John Paul experiences during his time as an abductee.
Ridley Scott’s able to capture the urgency of the situation as he keeps the movie fast-paced with its race-against-clock scenario. However, his main accomplishment for the film is how well he’s able to deliver a cohesive movie after having to do the last-minute reshoots, which he incorporates seamlessly into the movie. All of this presents one of the most-impressive filmmaking feats of the last few years, and you can bet your money on that.
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