Review: When I saw the cast in this movie, along with the top director, I had high expectations for this film but I wasn't that impressed with the outcome. Don't get me wrong, it's full of intensity from the beginning to the end, and there are some good performances from Plummer and Williams but like many movies that were released this year, it just seemed too long and the plot went round and round in circles. I didn't know anything about the John Paul Getty III kidnapping, so I was quite surprised that the plot was true but from an entertainment point of view, I expected more from Ridley Scott, who has been letting me down of late. Anyway, the movie is set in 1973, and it begins with a 16-year-old John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer) wandering around the streets of Rome, without a care in the world. After chatting to a couple of prostitutes on the street, John is kidnapped by an organised crime ring, who demand a $17million ransom from his Billionaire grandfather, Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer), who was at that time the world's richest private citizen. The movie then flashes back to 1971, when Paul's parents, Gail Harris (Michelle Williams) and John Paul Getty Jr. (Andrew Buchan), were divorced, due to John's drug addiction and womanising. Gail rejected any alimony in exchange for full custody of her children in the divorce settlement, so she hasn't got any way to pay the ransom. She turns to Paul Getty for help with paying the kidnappers but he refuses to pay them, stating that it would encourage further kidnappings on his family. With the media paying much attention to the kidnapping, Paul turns to his Getty Oil negotiator, and former CIA agent operative, Fletcher Chace (Mark Wahlberg), to investigate the case and secure Paul's release. Meanwhile, Getty III is held hostage in a remote location in Italy, and one of the kidnappers, Cinquanta (Romain Duris), take a shine to him because of his quiet and submissive demeanour. After waiting ages for the ransom to be paid, they decide to move Getty III to another location. Meanwhile, Fletcher manages to track down the kidnapper's whereabouts but they have already moved to there new location, where they have sold Paul Getty III to a more ruthless set of kidnappers. With Cinquanta negotiating with Gail over the phone, they drop the ransom but she still can't come up with the money. The kidnappers then send the newspapers Getty III left ear, to show that they mean business, and after some harsh words between Fletcher and Paul Getty, the Oil Tycoon finally agrees to pay the ransom. Basically, the whole situation could have been dealt with much sooner, if Paul Getty wasn't so tight with his money but I can understand the principle in why he didn't want to pay them after the first demand. His unemotional demeanour, even though he kept on saying that Getty III was his favourite grandchild, really did surprise me throughout the film but it was obvious that he had to crack at the end. The director could have shown how horrendous the situation was from Getty III point of view, which would have made the long kidnapping seem more intense. Anyway, Michelle Williams and Christopher Plummer put in a top performance, and it was good to see Wahlberg not showing off his muscles, or blowing anything up for a change. I also liked Romain Duris, who played Cinquanta because he brought some authenticity to the movie, and he seemed to be the only person who really cared about Getty III, except for his mother of course. Although Getty had all of the money in the world, he really was a lonely person, who died of heart-related problems before he got to see his grandson. Surpringsly, he left Gail to manage her children's inherited wealth until they are of age, and she is told that his company was set up as a charitable trust, which meant that Getty's income was tax-free but not spendable. After such an emotional ordeal, we don't get to see how it takes it's toll on the family because the director chose to spend most of the time concentrating on the kidnapping. Personally, I was more interested in Paul Getty than the kidnapping because his story was quite amazing. Anyway, it's another one of those movies that's worth a one-watch but once you know the outcome, you won't be wanting to watch it again. Average!Round-Up: With Kevin Spacy having to pull out at the last minute because of the sexual misconduct allegations, Ridley Scott only had a month to reshoot all of his scenes, with the newly cast Christopher Plummer as J. Paul Getty. What A Task! Everyone thought that it would have been easier to ditch the project, especially as the advertising campaign was due to start within a month but Ridley Scott used the scenes that he already had shot, and added some new shots with Plummer to make the deadline. Personally, I couldn't imagine anyone else playing J. Paul Getty! Anyway, everyone is familiar with Ridley Scott's previous work, which includes the fantastic Alien franchise, although the new ones are a bit lame, the Blade Runner franchise, Legend, Black Rain, Thelma & Louise, White Squall, G.I. Jane, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Hannibal, Kingdom Of Heaven, American Gangster, Body Of Lies, Robin Hood, The Counsellor, Exodus and the Martian. He's kind of lost his touch of late, especially with the latest Alien movies but at 80 years old, and 8 projects in the pipeline, he's not showing any signs of slowing down. He's known for getting what he wants when it comes to directing but I personally find him moody and miserable. With that aside, he has made some of the biggest movies of all time, and he has been nominated for 4 Oscars for the Martian, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator and Thelma & Louise but he's always been beaten at the post. I'm sure he will get a lifetime achievement award, at some point but he has a long way to go to meet the standards that he was hitting with his previous blockbusters. Average!Budget: $50million Worldwide Gross: $57millionGenre: Biography, Crime, Drama Cast: Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Romain Duris, Timothy Hutton, Charlie Plummer, Andrew Buchan, Marco Leonardi and Giuseppe Bonifati. 6/10

Let me get this out of the way first, the story does get in the way of me enjoying the movie. A billionaire who can't afford to pay for his favorite grandson's ransom, makes sense when considering they could go after the other dozen or so grandkids he has. In that respect it makes sense. The first amount he agrees to actually pay ends up being the amount that is tax deductible...sounds like Shylock asking for his pound of flesh. Later paying the 4 or so million after being threatened by his liaison/security man. I admit Williams did a solid performance as the mother, Plummer plays a convincing Scrooge type character, Mark Wahlberg perhaps is a bit bland or out of place enough to not have a clue how to portray the role. The later is understandable considering his character felt out of place in relation to the movie, so I don't blame him for his lack of any scene chemistry. The kidnappers started out fine, take the kid to secure location, don't give him any details of where he is. So far nothing wrong. Soon enough the kidnappers are lowering their price after months and everything seems to be poorly managed. For 17 million I would expect better organizational and planning skills, combined with a better watchful eye on the bait who seems capable of pulling a MacGyver. In the credits they mention the plot and sequence of events was altered to better suit the movie. It seemed all over the place. There remained elements that could have been added and quite a few that could have been easily left out of the script. While technically not a change of plot, I believe adding Christopher Plummer as old man tight wallet was a better fit for the role than Kevin Spacey. No offence to Spacey's acting, but Plummer in my opinion suits the character more. The change being done initially for the sake of Spacey's allegations was also a great choice for a mainstream movie to say no to actors who have checkered pasts due to allegations. Whether those allegations prove true or not is a whole other can of worms. As much praise as I give the studio for having gotten rid of Spacey, I don't consider carrying that sentiment over toward the movie. In all the movie seemed chaotic, and having only 2 characters carrying the movie alone is not enough. Could have used more emotion, more dramatic effect. I felt as if the kidnapping could have used more elements of terror. Given 3 stars seems more than a fair pound of flesh.

This movie is one of old classy types where tension is built around dialogues and the predicament characters find themselves in. Christopher plummer is riveting as a greedy billionaire who thinks about evading tax in every walk of his life and want to be in control of everything he sees. Michelle williams is terrific as a caring mother and not the usual dumb potrayals you normally find in these kind of movies. She is smart, witty and sees hope even in darker moments . The scene where she asks "Do they want me to cry?" potrays the real emotion people go through in situations like these. Mark wahlberg is more of a cliched character where you can predict pretty much what he will do. There are intense scenes in second half where the kid acted really well and you felt the pain character went through. Even though its a serious film, you might find humor in traces which made sure its an enjoyable watch.

Before we delve into the difficult circumstances that surrounded the production of this well-crafted picture - something I personally didn't expect due to all the misfortune the universe threw at it with the recast of Christopher Plummer as John Paul Getty instead of Kevin Spacey- let's talk first about its brilliancy. Believe me, we should not undermine how much work and endeavour had gone into this movie, let's not take away the honour that the visionary octogenarian director Ridley Scott deserves for making this thorough and visually astonishing picture. I have to admit, even though I have always been a massive fan, I could not believe that the man could effectively create such an intricate picture, knowing that he had to give away multiple scenes featuring the laid off actor Kevin spacey let alone make the bald decision of letting him go midway into the movie's production. As always , Ridley Scott tells rather beautifully the story of a billionaire who suffered to make his fortune and fought well to keep it, the story of the then richest man in the world John Paul Getty played by the wonderful Christopher Plummer, a merciless industrialist who left life aside to pursue a never ending accumulation of money .but even though the picture itself focused more on the kidnapping of his grandson and the way his family , and especially his mother portrayed by Michelle Williams , dealt with it , ranging from grief and sorrow to plain desperation , it never forgets its main character: the man that created the whole mess his family was so tragically spiralling inside . The amount of complexity that the character of John Paul Getty was showing throughout his life would be extremely hard to portray for someone of a lower calibre than Christopher Plummer , the highly talented and experienced actor conveyed perfectly the war that was going inside the man during his grandson's kidnaping , the mixed sense of guilt , remorse and his conventional cold sense of dealing with problems made him live a very difficult situation back then : he knows that every moment he waits is threatening the life of his beloved grandson but his nature , one of a hardened and tough industrialist stops him every time from letting his feeling of disparity loose , he knows well that he amassed his fortune and built his empire by cutting all expenses which means that his is stroke in his deepest weak points when his money is put into bargain against his loved ones by the Italian mob . However, the brilliant depiction of his character in this picture shows that there was no way that John Paul Getty would have given away his money to the kidnappers, his convoluted ways would certainly result in his grandson's death! The safe return of John Paul Getty III was the fruit of the tireless efforts of his mother Gail Harris who pushed his rich but obstinate grandfather to see the idiocrasy of his moral principals ,and after the final blow dealt by Fletcher Chace ,portrayed by mark Wahlberg, Gail and Getty's adviser and former CIA operative who confronted the man about his fragility and the vulnerability of his whole ethics' system , causing the man to pay the exact amount of the ransom , which led to the safe return of his grandson who was aided by a very friendly Italian gangster to escape his abduction , but unfortunately led to his lonely and miserable death . This picture is honestly very underrated, its story was thorough, and its characters were well built and amazingly acted. It may have suffered of the scandal of Kevin Spacey, who disappointed me when I was highly revering him as one of Hollywood's greatest, but it survived , and that is in itself a colossal achievement for which the great Ridley Scott deserves all the praise.