By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
Perhaps even more fascinating than the kidnap drama “All the Money in the World” is how 80 year-old director Ridley Scott replaced scandal-riddled Kevin Spacey with 88-year-old Christopher Plummer as billionaire J. Paul Getty. After refilming 22 scenes, Scott seamlessly edited old reaction shots with the new footage.
In 1973, bohemian, 16-year-old John ‘Paul’ Getty III (Charlie Plummer) was kidnapped in Rome. His frantic mother, Gail Harris (Michelle Williams), was desperate to deliver the $17 million ransom the kidnappers demanded, but his grandfather declined to pay.
Instead, obstinate Getty summoned an ex-C. I. A. agent, Fletcher Chase (Mark Wahlberg), the family ‘fixer,’ skilled in security and crisis management, to track Paul down.
(A pioneering oil tycoon, rapacious Getty was at that time the richest man in history. He paid no taxes because his global estate was in a charitable trust, allowing him to invest in art work and antiquities, many of which are on display at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.)
Notoriously frugal, he installed a pay phone for visitors at his baronial, 72-room British mansion. Elderly Getty icily claimed that, since he had 14 grandchildren, paying a ransom for Paul would encourage further kidnappings.
Italian crime syndicate operatives, a faction of the Red Brigade, an urban terrorist organization, held the troubled teenager hostage in the countryside. At one point, the thugs cut off Paul’s ear and mailed it to a Rome newspaper, as Cinquanta (Romain Duris) continued the negotiation.
Scripted by David Scarpa, based on John Pearson’s “Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty” (1995), it’s a tense, infamously true thriller/character study, never delving into sentiment or moral judgment. End credits acknowledge that certain historical scenes were fictionalized for dramatic effect.
FYI: Charlie Plummer is not related to Christopher. Paul Getty’s son, Balthazar, is an actor. And soon, FX will broadcast “Trust,” a miniseries depicting the same case.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “All the Money in the World” is a suspenseful 7, featuring a smoldering, persuasive performance by Christopher Plummer.
Following Christopher Nolan’s epic “Dunkirk,” Joe Wright’s “Darkest Hour” further illuminates that massive evacuation in 1940, utilizing a dazzling performance by Gary Oldman as that plummy wordsmith, Winston Churchill. Actually, the films are complementary.
Within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill was faced with the choice of negotiating a peace treaty with Adolf Hitler, whom he considers a madman, or standing firm, engaging his nation in World War II to fight for freedom from tyranny.
As Nazi Germany’s troops rolled across Western Europe, invading France, pushing 400,000 Allied troops into the sea at Dunkirk, Churchill found himself coping not only with his own cabinet and the pacifist Parliament plotting against him but also skeptical King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn).
Supported by his devoted wife, Clementine (Kristin Scott Thomas), yet wracked by depression and self-doubt, Churchill considers appeasement but, ultimately, defies former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) and Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax (Stephen Dillane).
“How many more dictators must be appeased before we learn? You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth!”
Scripted by Anthony McCarten, it’s inventively directed by Joe Wright (“Pride & Prejudice,” “Anna Karenina”), who previously staged the Dunkirk scenes in “Atonement” (2007).
Admittedly, the simplistic yet superbly structured scene of Churchill going out to “meet the working people” in London’s Underground is fictionalized. Added for dramatic purposes, it’s remarkably effective.
Although veteran actor Gary Oldman has only been nominated once, for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” he will probably walk off with the Academy Award as Best Actor. Propelled by incredible, almost manic, energy, both mental and physical — augmented by jowly makeup and padding — he transforms himself into the pugnacious 20th century icon.
On the Granger Gauge, “Darkest Hour” is a stylish 7, an Oscar-vehicle for Gary Oldman.
Based on a visionary ecological concept by director Alexander Payne and his longtime collaborator Jim Taylor (“Election,” “Nebraska,” “About Schmidt”), the ambitious social satire “Downsizing” soon becomes more of a slog than a sci-fi adventure.
Representing Everyman, mild-mannered Paul Safranek (Matt Damon) is an occupational therapist at the Omaha Steak Company who, along with his wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig), dreams of being able to afford the good life — someday.
Facing an overpopulation crisis, scientists develop an ingenious solution to shrink humans to five inches tall. And, as a Norwegian doctor (Rolf Lassgard) points out, in a miniature world, money goes a lot further, meaning that an average, middle-class couple can live like millionaires.
Captivated by a pep talk from former classmate Dave Johnson (Jason Sudekis) and seduced by the promise of luxuries beyond their wildest dreams, Paul and Audrey agree to undergo the controversial — and irreversible — procedure in Leisureland. But at the last minute, Audrey gets terrified, leaving Paul in the mini-world without her.
At this point, the intriguing tone changes completely. The once-sharp ‘small’ humor disappears, along with the core premise, giving way to poignancy and, ultimately, predictability.
Paul is befriended by his hedonistic neighbor (Christoph Waltz) and Ngoc Lan Tran (Hong Chau), a Vietnamese refugee, limping on an ill-fitting prosthetic leg. She introduces Paul to the impoverished ‘miniature masses’ in tenements, changing his perspective of this so-called utopia.
Eventually, they all wind up in Norway, where Paul learns that an ecological disaster is imminent, and the once-fascinating shrinkage concept becomes irrelevant.
On the Granger Gauge, “Downsizing” is a disappointing 5. As one wag quipped, “Honey, they shrunk the fun!”
(Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
