Ridley Scott directs Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg and Christopher Plummer in this true story thriller about the kidnapping of billionaire John Paul Getty’s grandchild. 

A really tight adult gripper with a keen central performance by Michelle Williams. Here she is all convincing cut glass accent, steely reserve. All her scenes sing with genuine emotion and bubbling desperation. It is another blast of fireworks from a still underrated thesp. Jen from Dawson’s Creek has come a long way. Ridley adds a warm, nostalgic gilt edge to the visuals but fails when he tries to punch up the action in the set-pieces. We are invested in the outcome already Ridders, no beefing up is necessary. He should just have left his over talented cast, combined with his own wise sense of irony, the freedom to battle each other verbally, as that’s where the movie’s granite strength lies. Finally, this will always be the project remembered for pasting a last minute Christopher Plummer performance over footage of a disgraced Kevin Spacey. I don’t agree with losing a talent due to accusations, but neither do I agree with rape. Time will tell if Spacey is guilty of anything. What we are left with is a ‘What If?’ What if Spacey’s performance was brilliant? What have we, the viewers not interested in salacious gossip, been deprived of? My thoughts are with Spacey if he is innocent, the victims if he isn’t. Plummer is fantastic in the role, and obviously more age appropriate casting. So only Spacey, one of cinema’s best, has suffered from this emergency tinkering. The intense and intelligent movie is fine without him.

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