THE REEL: He wants his grandson home, but won't pay ransom

Nobody gets rich by giving money away, so the saying goes, but would you not give money to save a family member?

All the Money in the World is a film about the world’s richest man back in 1973, John Paul Getty, and when he was asked to pay ransom for his grandson, John Paul Getty III (Paul).

The screenplay is derived from John Pearson's Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty book published in 1995.

ABDUCTION

Paul (Charlie Plummer) is kidnapped one night in the streets of Rome and a call placed to his mother Gail Harris (Michelle Williams) asking for a ransom of $17 million for his release.

She reaches out to J. Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer – I had to Google to see if this was a grandfather-grandson casting, but the two are not related) to get him to offer the ransom to the captors.

Getty, an oil tycoon, is not willing to part with his money just like that because he says it will open up a Pandora’s Box where he would have to be wary about his other grandchildren and this would see him losing money like a tap on full turn.

However, Getty gets one of his top negotiators, Fletcher Chace (Mark Wahlberg) – a former CIA operative and his advisor – to look into how he can get his grandson back safely but with his money intact.

All the Money in the World is a very gripping movie from start to finish. The kidnapping of Paul happens in the very first moments of the movie and from then on we are drawn into the complicated world of the once richest, private citizen on the planet.

FAMILY VS MONEY

As the movie progresses we see how Getty, a shrewd businessman, has a soft spot for his family. But he does not understand them because he hasn’t spent time with them as he was always travelling around the world to close deals.

Some of his own family members just see the dollar signs to his name and have been trying to find ways to get money from him. Hence, his apprehension about whether the kidnapping of his grandson is authentic.

What starts as a few months of calm negotiations with Cinquanta (Romain Duris) turn into a nightmarish ordeal, as body parts start finding their way to Gail’s address and the search for Paul becomes a desperate move to find him before his lifeless corpse becomes the next thing they find.

You won’t believe that you had sat through a two-hour-plus movie by the end of it, I even got late to an appointment because of it.

The story line was well scripted and the action was also a necessary break for when the mind and emotions were being overwhelmed.

You will remember Kevin Spacey got pulled from the film as J. Paul Getty less than two months to its release in cinemas, which was December, when he came up against multiple allegations of sexual assault. The reshoots with Christopher Plummer took nine days, November 20 to 29, and the results are just tremendous.

This is a movie worth watching with your friends on movie night!