Film review: All the Money in the World; The cost of hubris

MANILA, Philippines -  Here, finally, is the film that has as much backstory with twists and turns, as the movie itself. In an unheard of move, director Ridley Scott decided to reshoot all the scenes of Kevin Spacey as billionaire J. Paul Getty, replacing him with Christopher Plummer. And after the film opened, a new can of worms was exposed when it was leaked as to how much Mark Wahlberg, as “fixer” Fletcher Chace, was paid for the reshoot compared to Michelle Williams who portrays Gail Getty, mother of the kidnapped Paul, grandson of J. Paul. It caused enough of an uproar that Wahlberg donated his fee to the Time’s Up movement in Williams’ name.

With so much swirling around the film, it would have been easy to just see the film as a curiosity, a victim of the Hollywood sexual misconduct fallout. But that would be a crying shame; as there is much to commend about the film and it is definitely worth watching. It’s about the 1973 kidnapping for ransom of J. Paul Getty III in Rome and as a crime thriller, the film could have stood on its own, given the sensational trail of events that followed the kidnapping. But Scott is out for more; and we see what attracted him to the story in the first place.

Right after opening the film with the actual abduction of the youth, Scott treats us to flashbacks and incisive psychological portraits of our main protagonists. These would be J. Paul Getty himself, the richest man in the history of the world, and Gail Getty, the penniless mother who knows she is just carrying the name by virtue of marriage — but is estranged from her drug-addled husband, and is simply out to save her son.

Plummer is magnificent here, giving us the perfect blend of hubris, of arrogance and egotism. We actually glean the perverted logic of his intransigence towards paying the ransom or dealing with the kidnappers. Shot perpetually in somber grays, it’s almost as if Scott wants to present Getty as a musty, living relic.

The other luminous performance to enjoy here is Williams. The frustration, the determination, are both etched in her face and movements. Single-minded in her desire to get her son back, we are treated to vignettes that showcase this steely resolution and her futility in trying to make things happen without the intercession of her haughty father-in-law.

If there is a weak link in the casting and performances, it would be Wahlberg as the ex-CIA operative and now “fixer” for the old man Getty. It’s a one-dimensional portrayal; while even one of the kidnappers, Romain Duris as Cinquenta, has more of an arc and makes a more lasting impression.

Visceral look out for the scene when they cut off Paul’s ear, taut and suspenseful; this film is nothing short of a miracle when you consider all that transpired to bring it to the screen. About power, about family and about the tragedy that surround this actual incident; All the Money in the World is an exceptional film to catch.