Sunday, May 29, 2016

Review of MONEY MONSTER: Hostage Hysteria

May 28, 2016




If not for its headlining A-list stars, I would not even consider watching a movie with a bad title like this one. I had no idea what this film was going to be about before I went to watch it, just its stellar cast. Thankfully, I did.

(Side note:  The first time I tried to watch it in SM North EDSA on Thursday, the second day of release. I was shocked to find out that it had already been pulled out! So, it turns out not even Hollywood films, not even those with big stars in the cast, are spared from this unfortunate practice of first day-last day in mall cinemas. Fortunately, I later found out that this is still being shown in other malls other than SM.)

"Money Monster" turned out to be title of a cheesy financial TV show hosted by the obnoxiously entertaining stock market expert Lee Gates (George Clooney). He is loud, arrogant and even dances on his show. His show's director is the calm and collected Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts), who was already considering a change in her employment.

One day, one of Gates' hot stock picks IBIS Clear Capital suffered a "glitch" in its trading algorithm such that its investors lost $800M. On the day that Gates was to interview IBIS CEO Walt Camby (Dominic West) on his show, a disgruntled young man Kyle Budwell (Jack O'Connell) sneaked into the studio with a loaded gun and two bomb vests to hold Gates and Camby responsible for his disastrous investment.

Even with a very unlikeable role like Lee Gates, George Clooney still manages to hold our attention and draw us into his side. He did feel like he was playing his joker self at times. Julia Roberts had been on a career slump recently, but this role as Patty was a step in the positive direction. It was interesting to read that Clooney and Roberts actually shot most of their scenes separately from each other because of their busy schedules. However, they had chemistry together on screen despite this.

However, the actor to watch in this movie is really Jack O'Connell, who played the distraught hostage taker Kyle. I had seen him before in the war film "Unbroken" where he was really impressive as Louis Zamperini, a survivor of both a plane crash and a Japanese concentration camp during World War II. In "Money Monster," O'Connell delivered a riveting portrayal of a desperate man driven to an act of crazy violence. He will be able to rally you to sympathize with his plight and fate, despite knowing the stupidity of what he was doing.

Dominic West lacked screen presence as the CEO Camby, but Caitriona Balfe (from TV's "Outlander") did better in her pivotal role as IBIS spokesman Diane Lester. Other actors made their mark with their smaller roles, particularly Emily Meade (as Kyle's girlfriend Molly) and Aaron Woo (as the Korean IT expert Won).

Props go to the skillful direction of Ms. Jodie Foster. I was surprised to see her name up there when the credits rolled as I did not know this information going in. The storytelling and the editing of the scenes were so tight and exciting even when the situations do get too unbelievable or illogical. The humor was subtle and sharp. The suspense aspect was topnotch as we are held breathless as the hostage drama unfolded real time. The aftermath scenes were on-point, recognizing how the world of mass media turns these days. 8/10. 

17 comments:

  1. I watched the trailer just yesterday. Honestly, I 'm not sure if I would watch it but I guess I would if there's a storm outside and I'm stuck at home.

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  2. Money is really roots of all evil? That's y it's call monster? Dunno got this movie until read ur post..

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  3. Cool movie. I like Julia Roberts. I don't think I'll watch it though. I'm trying to save money.

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  4. This was a pretty exciting film and I really enjoyed the story. It's nice to watch something like this for a change, we've been flooded with superhero movies and fantasy films for months now.

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  5. Guessing from the title itself, I thought the movie was like that of The Big Short, but upon reading your review it was far more different. I just wonder how this movie ended. Did Kyle killed somebody? Now, I believe this is for me to find out. I hope to catch this movie this weekend.

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  6. I actually saw the trailer and this was one I was going to skip. Not even George Clooney could get me to go and see this.

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  7. I already saw the trailer & it was great. Hope I would find time this weekend to see the movie

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  8. I think a finance film always have difficulty catching its audience. It looks that it did well in the story telling and directing though.

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  9. I saw the trailer and I guess audiences/watchers will have a hard time analyzing the stories if they will not watch it from the start.

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  10. You're right, the title sucks! But it sounds good and I can't turn down a good suspense movie!

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  11. Now this only shows that we don't judge a book by its cover. Who would have thought that its story has something to give despite of the title it has. lol but really, I will try to check if it is available somewhere online. Who knows, I can spare time watching it.

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  12. This movie is not yet screen in my country. I am not sure their will or not. However I am going to try to watch it online.

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  13. Now that's interesting. As I already told you, thrillers are my fav genre and with your 8/10 this looks promising.

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  14. This one is super interesting, and I like the storyline based on your view, but I think the marketing for this is pretty bad, even when the stars are A-list.

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  15. Interesting movie. I see veteran stars in the line up. I don't think I'll watch this though.

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  16. Not yet released in my country I think. Also, not sure if I would watch it. Starcast looks stellar though.

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  17. I was surprised to see Jodie Foster's name here. Good for her!

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