Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

All the Money in the World Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 28, 2018

It seems as if there’s been a inordinate amount drama coming out of Hollywood in the last few years. There was the Sony hack, struggling box office numbers, and of course the sexual abuse claims against various high-level celebrities, including Kevin Spacey. It’s the latter which concerns All the Money in the World, a 1970s-set kidnapping Thriller that once starred Spacey in the lead role of billionaire oil man J. Paul Getty. With little time before release, Spacey was cut entirely from the picture and his scenes were reshot with Christopher Plummer his replacement. For his excellent last-minute portrayal of the stubborn billionaire, Plummer would receive a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. The film is otherwise more or less nondescript, a solid enough Thriller and character study but lacking the intensity of similar genre films.

July 1973. A young boy named Pablo, a.k.a. little Paul (Charlie Plummer), grandson of the wealthy oil magnate Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer), is kidnapped in a seedy part of Rome. Mr. Getty is the richest man in the history of the world, a man who made his fortune in Saudi Arabian oil. Little Paul's shocked mother Gail (Michelle Williams) receives the kidnapping and ransom demand call, learns that little Paul is safe for the moment, and that the price of his return is $17,000,000. She has no such money, and Mr. Getty refuses to pay it, though it’s little more than pocket money to him. He’s a miser, collecting trinkets and valuable works of art but unwilling to part with an otherwise, for him, measly sum for the safety of his grandchild. One of Getty’s most trusted men in his oil negotiations, an ex government agent named Fletcher Chase (Mark Wahlberg), is brought in to aid Gail and the investigation, but as time ticks away and Getty stands firm in his refusal to pay, little Paul’s fate becomes ever more in question.

The film's public booting of star Kevin Spacey and reshoots with Christopher Plummer certainly drew all of the release-window headlines, for better or for worse. The film is, by itself, otherwise agreeably constructed but not particularly impactful in terms of narrative construction and dramatic delivery. It's a character movie where the kidnapping is less a narrative centerpiece and more a spotlight through which the film can explore dueling responses, namely the grieving mother and the quasi-miserly billionaire. Plummer portrays Getty with an external coldness and an internal complexity. He has amassed more money anyone else ever has accumulated but does not feel secure in his wealth, always fearing that one bad slide could take it away from him. It hasn’t made him happy, to be sure. He spends money on collectibles, some authentic, some not. He will pay more than a million dollars for a painting he does not believe to be worth its asking price but he will not budge from his insistence that he will not pay his grandson’s ransom, essentially holding him hostage himself, in a roundabout way. He values treasure, but does not appear to treasure life. The Getty character is the movie’s highlight. While the film is absorbing and engaging enough as a surface level kidnapping Thriller, even as it lacks the intensity of the best kidnapping dramas the genre has to offer (Ransom, for example), it’s the Getty character who dominates the picture. His reasoning is sound. In one scene, he refuses various requests for money from strangers, strangers obviously in need of it, on account that, were he to help one person, he would have to help all who ask and burn through his wealth in a matter of months. A charitable man he is not. It’s the same logic he constructs with the kidnapping. One paid ransom will beget another kidnapping, and another (think "we don't negotiate with terrorists"). There's a cold reasoning to Getty's stance, and digging through his mind as he refuses to dig into his pocket makes for the film's most intriguing dynamic.

This is certainly not Ridley Scott's finest film, though it's perfectly serviceable, even enjoyable, in a bubble. It plays it safe and straight, with some chilling moments to be sure but there's little screen-commanding intensity to be found. Even as Plummer towers, Williams sizzles, and Wahlberg makes for a fine middle balance between the extremes as a man who is at once both loyal to Getty but evolving to understand the larger picture and Gail's perspective, the film does little of interest to support the characters in terms of organic, absorbing drama. The movie feels somewhat distant, never personal, at least for the audience. It adheres to routine but does smartly allow the characters to dominate the picture. As noted, this is much more a character study and less a straight Thriller, but the support structure is still absent that serious draw and push to take them to the next level. The film's crude narrative ebbs and flows are certainly capable, and several scenes find gut-wrenching power, but Scott cannot find that appropriate balance to bring the rest of the movie up to his characters' levels. Technically, the film is very proficient. It does not feel the product of a movie that had many key scenes quickly reshot; it's seamless and it's clear Scott and his team did their due diligence, likely at record speed, to make the movie work as well as it does.

All the Money in the World Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All the Money in the World apparently buys a high-yield transfer. The movie opens at night with amazingly rich and detailed black levels, which are a constant throughout the film. Textural qualities are fantastic. Though digitally photographed, there's a satisfyingly crisp, detailed cinematic texturing to essentially everything, whether ornate furnishings in Getty's mansion or more lived-in essential woods and other surfaces in various other locales, homes and offices and various places where Paul is held captive. Skin textures are tight and precise, as are clothing seams and fabric details. Colors are wonderfully saturated. Whether bold clothing hues or dreary prisons and gray-shaded environments, there's an authenticity and crispness to each and every one, even as the movie is somewhat tonally dark. Flesh tones appear true to natural complexions. Even minor source or encode artifacts are of almost no concern. This is a first-rate new release from Sony.

All the Money in the World Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

All the Money in the World delivers the typically strong score from a new release film. It's lifelike, fluid, and offers abundantly rich and detailed notes. It boasts good firm delivery, effortless spacing, and a well realized low end support. Sound effects are efficient and perfectly positioned. A train slowly rumbles to a stop early in the film with powerful stage traversal. Outdoor insects buzz around the listener in chapter three. Deep, dense shotgun blasts in chapter four explode with a distinct crack to the sides and rear. Bustling din that accompanies a gaggle of reporters places the listener in the middle of the crowd. Office ambience engulfs the listener in chapter 11. The track is filled with a number of intensely defined, largely spaced, and perfectly proportioned support effects. It's an active, engaging listen that handles every element with striking precision, often presenting larger than its 5.1 channels suggest. Dialogue is, of course, clear and well defined with firm front-center positioning.

All the Money in the World Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All the Money in the World contains deleted scenes and a trio of featurettes. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 6:52 total runtime): Scenes include Overdue Bill; Load the Car for Rome; Welcome to Your New Apartment; It's All Business to Them; He Said He Was Safe; What Do You Want?; No Mail Today, Signora; and No Petrol.
• Ridley Scott: Crafting a Historical Thriller (1080p, 9:11): A brief catch-all in which cast and crew discuss the pluses of working with Ridley Scott, shooting locales, narrative details, research and the real history behind the story, cast and performances, costumes, score, cinematography, and more.
• Hostages to Fortune: The Cast (1080p, 9:32): As the title suggests, this piece offers a closer examination of the film's core cast and the characters they portray, including some emphasis on the real people on whom they are based.
• Recast, Reshot, Reclaimed (1080p, 4:55): The most interesting supplement of the four, dealing with the 8-day reshoot to replace Kevin Spacey, including cast and crew response and the technical details and challenges of the process.

All the Money in the World Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

All the Money in the World boasts an impressive cast with two leads who dig deep into their characters and offer a compelling contrast between love of a person and love of money. The film soars as a character study but its supporting pieces do little to rise the central story above essential mediocrity. It's well worth watching as a curiosity of its time considering the Spacey controversy as well as for its complexly drawn characters, but don't expect a revival of the gritty kidnapping Thriller. Sony's Blu-ray does boast high end video and audio qualities. The included extras, one of which deals with the Spacey removal and Plummer reshoots, are fine. Recommended.