All The Money In The World (2017)

In 1973 Rome, John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer), the grandson of the world's (reputedly) richest man (Christopher Plummer) is kidnapped and held for a $17 million dollar ransom. Based on the true story of the notorious Getty kidnapping with the usual artistic licenses taken for dramatic effect. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD is how very good it is considering what was working against it. With a few exceptions (like THE MARTIAN), director Ridley Scott's films for the last 20 years have been weak (I hated GLADIATOR). Add to that having to recast a major role and shoot it in 2 weeks just weeks before the film was due to open and it screams "Trouble!". Instead, we get an absorbing crackerjack "real life" thriller showing the 80 year old Scott in peak form. Plummer is terrific but the soul of the movie is Michelle Williams as Getty III's mother. An ordinary woman who marries into the family but proves to have a moral backbone greater than the money worshiping Getty. Acknowledgment must be given to Dariusz Wolski's cinematography which seems to have bleached out all color and Daniel Pemberton's tense underscore. With Mark Wahlberg, Timothy Hutton, Romain Duris and Andrew Buchan.