Over the weekend I had the pleasure of watching the film "Gold".
I had been wanting to watch this film for some time but don't really get to get out much to the theater because of the little one, so much of my film watching has to wait till it comes out at Redbox.
To the Film...
"Gold" is a 2016 American drama/adventure film based upon the true story of Bre-X mining. If you are not familiar with the Bre-X story, you can read about it here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bre-X
If you haven't noticed yet with my other reviews, I especially like to stick with movies based on true stories. I tend to find those that much more interesting, although I do make exceptions from time to time.
Cast:
The film has a solid cast headlined by Matthew McConaughey. Other notable cast members include:
Edgar Ramirez
Bryce Dallas Howard
Corey Stoll
Tobey Kebbell
Craig T. Nelson
Stacy Keach
Bruce Greenwood
Plot:
The film starts by introducing us to Kenny Wells (McConaughey), a long time prospector that has been struggling in the years following his father's death to both cope and make money.
Seven years after his father's death, he is nearly broke and is struggling to find anyone to back his mining ideas.
That all changes when, in a dream one night, Wells has a vision. A vision of a massive gold deposit located in the heart of Indonesia. In a place so remote that only a few could even mine the area. Luckily for him he thinks he knows one of those such men he thinks might be able to mine the area...
Wells pawns off the rest of his valuables to afford a plane ticket to go meet this man. Michael Acosta is the name of the man he is looking for.
After some major persuading, Wells convinces Acosta to go with him and take a look at this land from his dream. Acosta reluctantly agrees to go see what is out there.
Upon finding some ground that Acosta thinks might be worth mining, he signs on to be a full partner with Wells.
As the mining operation begins to unfold, it is looking like the ground has very little gold in it. This is not good news as this is likely the last shot Wells has at striking it rich.
After the disappointments pile up and the two men are running low on resources, their luck changes and they hit a hot streak.
Upon further examination this hot streak looks like something bigger than anything they could have hoped for... This one find alone could be enough to make their families rich for several generations to come.
The story really starts to begin at this point. I won't go into any more details though in case you haven't seen the film yet.
Reception:
The film has received mixed reviews from critics and regular viewers alike.
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 42%. Their critical consensus reads:
"Gold boasts an impressively committed performance from Matthew McConaughey, but it's just one glittering nugget in an otherwise uneven heap of cinematic silt."
IMDB rates the film slightly better at a 6.7/10. Indicating that the general audience appreciated it slightly more than the critics.
Metacritic gave the film a 49 out of 100 rating.
Financially, the film has been a major disappointment. With a budget of over $20 million, it has only grossed around $10 million to date. Perhaps streaming and Redbox rentals will help soften the blow once those numbers start to roll in.
My Review:
Before watching this movie I hadn't heard of Bre-X mining or the controversy that surrounded them. I just knew that the film starred a great actor and had a very interesting story line, at least from what I could tell on the previews.
After watching the film I can honestly say that the story was very different than what I was expecting. Actually, to put it more bluntly, the twist in the film came completely out of left field.
I won't say exactly what that twist was because many reading this likely have never seen the film. Lets just say the less you know going in, the better it will be.
As far as the film itself, I thought it was just ok.
It had a great story to build around and it had a great actor. One of my favorite's actually. However, they weren't really able to fully take advantage of all the good things it had going for it. The story was a bit hard to follow at times and the twist came so far out of left field that perhaps that needed to be set up slightly better to help the story flow better.
McConaughey was a major bright spot in the film. His commitment to the role was outstanding. I can't tell you how many times the Mrs. kept commenting how McConaughey had really let himself go and how old he was getting... then we saw him in a commercial right after the film and it turns out that the physical transformation was strictly for the role he was playing.
Well done Matthew.
Overall, I would rate the film as a 7/10.
It's not as bad as the critics would have you believe, but it really wasn't that great either. Which was unfortunate because it had such an interesting and true story that it was based off of.
In my opinion it is worth the watch, but much better to see this one streaming online or as rental from Redbox. Seeing it in the theater might leave one a bit disappointed.
Have you seen the film? What did you think?
Let me know in the comments section below.
Live well my friends!
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_(2016_film)
Image Sources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1800302/mediaindex?ref_=tt_pv_mi_sm
