Money Monster is financial crime thriller directed by Jodie Foster. It centers around Lee Gates (George Clooney) a financial reporter and Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts), his executive producer as they are in the midst of a hostage situation being run by Kyle Budwell (Jack O'Connell) as he attempts to get answers as to why 800 million dollars was lost by a financial company that Gates recommended everyone buy stock in.
Being that the majority of the film takes place in a secluded area with our three main characters, Jodie Foster does a great job making sure that the film never feels claustrophobic. Part of this is due to the performances of George Clooney and Jack O'Connell. The two of them spend the majority of the screen time together and they have great chemistry. It almost reminded me of the strange yet surprisingly believable chemistry between Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad. Throughout the hour and forty minute run length, the two of these characters have extremely development that is represented extremely well by the two of their performances. They each portray a believable character as we see under each of their fake personalities and truly digest the fact that they are just regular people.
Throughout the entire film, my heart was pounding. The tension was extremely well written and directed as we are constantly worried that Budwell's thumb could slip at the slightest of moments. The movie doesn't just use one type of tension--it moves some scenes slow and other scenes are much more fast paced. But I can tell you this; throughout the whole film, I was on the edge of my seat, constantly waiting to see what would happen next. A lot of this is due to the well done pacing. The mix between humor, drama and tension made the film feel more realistic. When the movie went from drama to action based, it felt natural as opposed to being forced onto the audience for the sake of just having an action scene.
Now let's get into why this film isn't phenomenal. First of all, the sheer predictability of the film. From about 10 minutes in, I knew exactly how the movie was going to end. This did take away from the film for me, as there were times that I almost wasn't nervous for the characters as the big "twist" at the end could be seen coming from a mile away.
Julia Roberts was just okay in this movie. She didn't necessarily take away from the film, but she certainly didn't add to the quality of it with her performance. She felt somewhat bland at points and only had a couple of moments where she really came out to shine
The beginning 10 minutes was extremely rushed. An extra few minutes onto the film wouldn't have killed them. Instead, it probably would have helped them. Kyle is on the set within at least 5 minutes of the film and it would have been nice to have a little more introduction to Gates and to see a little more about the crash that happened with the market.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film. It held my attention and had believable pacing, but the predictability did take away a far bit for me.
7/10
