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Trust Weighted
Great
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83Trust Points
Wick's Review
Summary - Great 4.0
Matthew McConaughey rode the tiger (yet again) in the under-titled Gold, the truthy tale of a hard-living, third-gen miner who never ever gives up hope. This Weinstein Company release revels in peeping at the rise, fall, rise and fall of a quasi-rapacious capitalist kook. From the Left, revenge is a dish best served gold.
It’s a wild ride that’s fully engrossing, not least because of McConaughey’s mesmeric turn as a legacy mining entrepreneur who’s less chip-off-the-old-block than flake-off-the-overextended-chip. He’s a functional alcoholic, a heavy alcoholic, but that hardly slows him down. Yep, quintessential McConaughey.
Acting - Great 4.0
Matthew McConaughey plays a classic Matthew McConaughey role as a reckless and indefatigable entrepreneur. Nic Cage must not’ve been available, or for that matter Christian Bale, as the role required McConaughey to appear paunchy and balding, rather like Bale in America Hustle.
His supporting cast is more 14-carat than pure gold, but there are several shiny nuggets.
- Édgar Ramírez hardly jumps offscreen as a Filipino geologist who leads McConaughey to an enormous gold strike.
- Bryce Dallas Howard does jump offscreen as McConaughey’s waitress-wife.
- Corey Stoll is strong as a New York investment banker.
- Toby Kebbell underwhelms as an FBI agent on McConaughey’s tail.
- Bruce Greenwood is never less than compelling, here as a major domo of the mining industry.
- Stacy Keach does little more than cameo as a mining industry elder statesmen.
- Rachael Taylor jumps offscreen as a sexually aggressive industry player.
- Craig T. Nelson cameos as McConaughey’s father.
- Jirayu Tantrakul is appropriately callow and cavalier as the son of Indonesian dictator Suharto.
Male Stars - Perfect 5.0
McConaugheyFemale Stars - Very Good 3.5
Female Costars - Great 4.0
Male Costars - Very Good 3.5
Film - Great 4.0
Gold is a classic Weinstein film, even with only one starlet role. The Left loves rapacious capitalists.
Musically, the Talking Heads cover is especially well chosen, being an Eighties & Nineties period piece.
Direction - Great 4.0
Dialogue - Very Good 3.5
Music - Really Great 4.5
"Kishi Bashi":https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4860218/ covers _This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)_, well.Visuals - Very Good 3.5
Edge - Risqué 2.4
Sex Titillating 1.9
Violence Fierce 2.5
Rudeness Profane 2.9
Reality - Glib 1.5
SPOILER ALERT: The breathtaking Bre-X Mining Fraud gets revivified in Gold, an undertitled gem of a Mathew McConaughey movie. McConaughey’s character is based on Bre-X CEO David Walsh.