Gold

This review may contain spoilers!

When will these rags to riches hustler biopic films end?! I would give Gold a 6/10.

What I enjoy about the tone of this film is how desperate and hungry the characters are, there's a message here about the difference between money and gold. Gold represents something, it's this idea that discovering more mineral wealth is the force that will propel you not only into wealth but into the history books. I really enjoyed the final act of the film and how it was presented; it drew upon the ground work of the relationship laid between Wells and Acosta by throwing you for a curveball in revealing Acosta's betrayal of Wells. The revelation of Acosta's betrayal creates a collapse in Wells' world; he loses everything and you can only watch in fascination at the greater impact this has on American society and the economy. The editing has a really interesting style, the fades are used well but the cuts are structured in a way that has you interested in what will be set before you next. The score for the film has a very retro theme that grounds you in this 80s setting, while the soundtrack is a medley of celebratory hits and grim ballads about greed and regret.

Corey Stoll, who played Brian Woolf, has that hard-hitting keen edge that you associate with a businessman working in Wall Street; I enjoyed scenes where Stoll gets manipulative in quite a subtle way. Toby Kebbell, who played Paul Jennings, is a very reserved and calm role that still has a lot of authority behind him; I thought it was fantastic how Kebbell guided and directed McConaughey in their scenes together. Bruce Greenwood, who played Mark Hancock, has a very stiff and formal demeanour with a lot of gravitas in regards to his presence; there's something about Greenwood's performance that makes you feel intimidated by this tycoon character.

However the best performance came from Matthew McConaughey, who played Kenny Wells. As far as protagonists go for these type of films I'd felt like I'd seen them all and that this wouldn't be any different. However what McConaughey provides is a figure who has compassion, love and determination quite clearly within him; nor is this a guy who is ambitious for the sake of it but rather he is ambitious to live up to his father's legacy and to support his wife. Yet this doesn't mean McConaughey doesn't take his role to some dark places, scenes of splendour and infidelity abound and most threatening of all is a horrible drunken rant about success delivered to Howard. I think McConaughey has great presence, and it's often upon his shoulders to create an interesting dynamic in the relationship between Ramirez and himself.

The issue with a film like this is that it makes no difference to be an original biopic, it's the same formula we always get. A man who you would class as a hustler or salesman makes a big break and gets rich, the success leads him down a lavish and corrupt road and then he or his competitors take a fall by the end of the feature. This is the exact tangent of Kenny Wells in this feature and the fact you know exactly how this is going to go makes it quite a tired model of storytelling. The interplay between narrative and FBI interrogation to guide the story comes into conflict with one another, you don't really know exactly where the film is placing you and it becomes disorienting. The biggest disappointment is that this film creates a figure who is fairly redemptive in Kenny Wells yet they ruin him by creating his love interest, Kay. Throughout the film Kay is quite a simple and kind role who Wells promptly abuses the minute he gets money, the mistreatment he deals her throughout the feature is inconsistent with his role's personality and makes the role hard to like. The cinematography in the film is often quite wide, you have a nice enough focus on set pieces but generally characters and onscreen action are poorly captured.

Edgar Ramirez, who played Michael Acosta, doesn't really engage with the narrative of this film much; he really drones in his delivery and ultimately gives quite a stiff performance. Bryce Dallas Howard, who played Kay, is really just there to play McConaughey's conscience; Howard is barely given the screen time to make her own mark in the film and is sparingly used. Craig T. Nelson, who played Kenny Wells Sr., has absolutely no chemistry as a father figure for McConaughey; the way he is promptly killed off after barely being introduced is jarring and a poor narrative move. Rachael Taylor, who played Rachel Hill, isn't in this film to play a character per se; Taylor sadly presents a sex appeal figure and is only here to create a marital spat between McConaughey and Howard's roles. Stacy Keach, who played Clive Coleman, is a figure that rumbles and dithers on without really providing any substance to a scene; Keach performs quite the throwaway role and is completely eclipsed by McConaughey. Jirayu Tantrakul, who played Darmadi 'Danny' Suharto, gives some geuinely poor line delivery in this film; Tantrakul's party boy role is quite artificial and hard to really connect with the tone of Gold.