All the Money in the World

What to say about this movie? Is it a well-executed piece of cinema? Yes, I'd say so. Are the performances good? Sure--nothing standout, but most of the principals are believable in their roles (though Mark Wahlberg comes across a little flat). Does it present an intriguing story? No doubt; kidnappings tend to be interest grabbers. So what's the problem here? The most striking thing about this story about the wealthiest man in the world--in the history of the world, as the narrative points out--is that, at this moment in time, when concentrated wealth is very much a part of the current discussion, this story seems oddly out of any context (other than its timeframe of the early 1970s). There aren't many resonances with current people and events, even though the subject matter seems custom-built for exactly that sort of resonance. The moral may be that all billionaires are just greedy misers with no further redeeming value--but that seems a bit simplistic even for the standard, two-shade, good vs. evil medium that is studio cinema. Overall, this is hardly a bad movie--just nothing near what one might have thought it could be.