Director: Jodie Foster.
Starring: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O'Connell, Dominic West, Caitriona Balfe.
Jodie Foster directs her fourth major feature, an interesting thriller about a man who hi-jacks a money trading show after losing his small fortune following the advice of George Clooney's Lee Gates AKA Money Monster. But there's a lot more to this movie than a Broadcast takeover and carries an intriguing point that many of us choose to ignore.
The real subject matter being about fraudulent corporations who work unnoticed changing the face of the financial world whilst the rest of us work on. It's a topic I feel strongly about and this film has a special meaning to myself. (Don't worry, I'm not gonna hold up a gocompare.com commercial, though I could probably shoot the moustached freak.)
Jack O'Connell doesn't seem to stop impressing me, first with Starred Up (2013) then in both Unbroken and '71 in 2014. The man is sheer talent. Can you imagine what it must be like for him to star up against George Clooney and Julia Roberts under the direction of Jodie Foster? He so deserves every part of it.
O'Connell plays Kyle, the chap who loses his money along with his mind and goes the great distance of taking over the show. George Clooney is the fast-talking, larger-than-life TV host who does some pretty outrageous scenes. At one stage, I was thinking the film was an elaborate wind-up to get Clooney to do these silly things. He's known for being a big prankster both on and off set.
The siege quickly becomes one of those 'where were you watching when..." kind of moment when the whole world tunes in to watch, people are suckers for reality TV. We the audience get to place our bets as the tables turn and the conspiracy unfolds.
Roberts is simply amazing as the calm and controlled director, frantically ordering her team, troubleshooting at every turn. You can't help but love her demanding, confident character as the middle-person who's striving to keep the balance between psycho-gunman, egotistical TV host, and the police wanting to intervene and shoot someone, anyone; whilst trying to unravel the truth AND all live on worldwide TV.
We don't see much of Dominic West on the big screen but when we do, he's plays that turn-coat, slimy, smug bastard so well. I think of his Theron in Zack Snyder's 300. Also noticed the stunning Caitriona Balfe, will be looking out for her in the future.
Watching the relationship between Kyle and Gates is entertaining, seeing both having internal struggles about who they really are and finding their place in the world as they both collide and eventual form a coalition to seek truth and not money.
It's superbly edited and doesn't lose paced but falls a little flat at the end, even though slightly unpredictable it becomes quite anticlimactic with the rest world quickly going back to their normal everyday life. Which is probably a realistic and sad reaction. I also feel the script could have been better, given the cast capabilities, even though it was a blacklist script of 2014, maybe that was why. Lenny the cameraman periodically muttering "balls" was probably my favourite clever bits.
Dominic Lewis does a prefect score, reminding me a little of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' work or something I would expect from Harry Gregson-Williams. It's great at setting the tension and empowering the scenes.
It's like an action version of The Big Short. This is what happens when someone snaps after their money has been stolen by a corporate banker. *coughs* not saying it's unbelievable, it could happen yes? However I don't think the police would respond like they do, who knows?
I'm sure there's a mention of Terry Benedict in there too!
Running Time: 9
The Cast: 9
Performance: 10
Direction: 8
Story: 8
Script: 7
Creativity: 6
Soundtrack: 9
Job Description: 8
The Extra Bonus Point: 10 for Jack O'Connell, Great story and a brilliant score.
84% 8/10
