Movie Review: Dimension Films' GOLD - #GoldMovie

GOLD
Release Date: 1/27 Wide
MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 120 min

GOLD is the epic tale of one man’s pursuit of the American dream, to discover gold. Starring Matthew McConaughey as Kenny Wells, a prospector desperate for a lucky break, he teams up with a similarly eager geologist and sets off on an journey to find gold in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia. Getting the gold was hard, but keeping it would be even harder, sparking an adventure through the most powerful boardrooms of Wall Street. The film is inspired by a true story.

Directed by Stephen Gaghan, the film stars Matthew McConaughey and Edgar Ramirez and Bryce Dallas Howard. The film is written by Patrick Massett & John Zinman. Teddy Schwarzman and Michael Nozik served as producers alongside Massett, Zinman, and McConaughey.

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“Not all that glitters is gold.”  Say what you will, the adage proves to be true time and again.  And it proved to be true for this week’s film, Gold. Lately, it seems that top-billed Hollywood actors are feverish for gold (statues) of their own.  The characters are bigger.  The scripts are more complicated.  The transformations are more pronounced.  All efforts are given in an attempt to make an awards season mark.  In Gold, it translates into Matthew McConaughey becoming overweight, sweaty and bald, but not much else.  I was disappointed.

Gold is billed as being "based on actual events." So, I researched the actual events on which the movie was based, and they were not spectacular at all. I don't know why anyone thought that this would make an interesting movie, but here we are.    

I was looking for this to be, and the trailers made it seem like, a technical movie about gold mining. I had hoped to get some insight into the gold prospecting world. It wasn’t that.  It was a slow-moving series of unfortunate events. The plot was slow enough that, at one point, I thought the movie was over. I packed-up my things, but the story had another twenty minutes to go. 

I also wasn't crazy about the acting. Matthew McConaughey has been better. He needed to be better in this than the physical transformation I mentioned earlier. His performance came-off as over-exaggerated. The harder McConaughey tried (as Kenny Wells), the more insincere the performance felt. I didn't care for Bryce Dallas Howard (as Kaylene, Well's love interest), either. The acting abilities between Howard and McConaughey were uneven. Howard wasn't able to keep up.  Her performance felt like she was a spectator to McConaughey's performance. I think a more experienced actress should have been cast. Edgar Ramírez (as Micke Acosta) rounds-out the top-billed cast. I was glad that he was in this because he's easy on the eyes. Unfortunately, Ramirez's performance was very dry. 

The best facet of Gold was the camera work. Great scenery. Loved the jungle shots. I wish I had better compliments for Gold than the cinematography, but there aren't. 

I would wait to see Gold until it hits some at-home format. I feel like an unattractive Matthew McConaughey would play better on a small screen. Gold opens everywhere today.