13. All The Money In The World; movie review

ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD
Cert 15
133 mins
BBFC advice: Contains: strong violence, injury detail, threat, language

We really couldn't spot the seams. 
Apparently, Christopher Plummer, aged 88, shot all of Kevin Spacey's discarded scenes in just nine days.
The fact that he did so at all is remarkable but his performance, bearing the background in mind, is all the more astonishing.
Although, perhaps the people sitting next to us in Nottingham Cineworld, Screen 7 could spot something Mrs W and I didn't because they walked out of Ridley Scott's All The Money In The World after less than an hour.
Their action was bewildering because this will not only go down as one of the greatest rescue jobs in movie history, it is also a truly riveting thriller.
Scott turned to Plummer, after his original star, Kevin Spacey, became mired in allegations of sex offences.
Having watched Plummer's outstanding portrayal of billionaire John Paul Getty, it is hard to imagine Spacey in the role. I wonder if rushes will appear in years to come.
Getty is at the heart of a true story in which his grandson Paul (Charlie Plummer) is kidnapped from the streets of Rome.
The oil baron's stony reaction is in contrast to that of Paul's mother (Michelle Williams) who is understandably frantic for his return.
Finally, he does send his security advisor (Mark Wahlberg) to Italy to try to secure his release but even then, his help is begrudging at best.
The details of the kidnapping of Paul and his Stockholm Syndrome relationship with one of his captors (Romain Duris) offers the other perspective of an event which shocked the world.
Neither Mrs W nor I knew much about the Getty abduction (I have been fascinated to catch up with more detailed reading since watching the movie) and, therefore, the surprises came to us thick and fast.
But I shall not go into further description for fear of ruining the storyline.
Suffice to say that the 1970s is re-created very precisely and that Plummer and Williams are well worth their Golden Globe nominations. Meanwhile, both Wahlberg, Duris and Plummer are impressive support.
It just fails to score the very highest mark because of the way it flits around various points in time during its opening 45 minutes.
Oh, and the ear scene.... yuk!

Reasons to watch: a rollocking good story, expertly told
Reasons to avoid: there is quite a lot of licence taken with history

Laughs: three
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 9/10

Director's statement - Ridley Scott about Kevin Spacey: "I sat and thought about it and realized, we cannot. You can’t tolerate any kind of behavior like that. And it will affect the film. We cannot let one person’s action affect the good work of all these other people. It’s that simple.”

The big question - how did Ridley Scott manage to swap the lead character so quickly?

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