There was a day when Matthew McConaughey typically acted in fluffy, light films, however that all ended when he took some time off to reinvent himself into the realization that he could have much meatier roles than he was receiving. All of a sudden, we saw him in "Mud", then subsequently in "Dallas Buyers Club" in which he landed his Academy Award for best actor in a film. From that point, he has been in films that truly showcase what he can do, and "Gold" certainly proves that.
Inspired by a true story in 1988, this centers around an American businessman and prospector named Kenny Wells (McConaughey), who has driven his family's mining company into the ground, tries to reverse his fortunes by prospecting for gold in the uncharted jungles of Indonesia. With the assistance of an experienced geologist, Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez), Wells actually manages to unearth a massive gold deposit, but he is soon forced to protect his find from ruthless Wall Street traders including Brian Woolf (Corey Stoll) and Mark Hancock (Bruce Greenwood). In part, this story is told to an FBI agent Paul Jennings (Toby Kebbell) as a flashback from Wells' perspective.
Others to round out the cast are Bryce Dallas Howard as Kay, Kenny's girlfriend, Bill Camp as Hollis Drescher, Stacy Keach as Clive Coleman, Timothy Simons as Jeff Jackson, Craig T. Nelson as Kenny Wells Sr., Macon Blair as Connie Wright, Adam LeFevre as Bobby Burns and Rachael Taylor as Rachel Hill.
This was grittily directed by Stephen Gaghan ("Rules of Engagement" 2000, "Traffic" 2000, "Abandon" '02, "The Alamo" '04, "Havoc" '05, "Syriana" '05, "Metro (TV movie) '11) plus TV. Call it coincidence, but it's interesting that the vast majority of this filmmaker's films are only 'one word' titled ones. Certainly one word would be easier for the audience to remember, and so much of the time, a 'one word' titled film can give one that one two punch when advertising the movie. Obviously this director sticks to his comfort zone, which can make it easier for him and more effective to the audience. Certainly McConaughey and Ramirez are consummate actors, but the raw, extremely different personalities they exuded was definitely fine directing at its best. If you like his films, "The Division" has been announced for a 2018 release. It was detailed well by team writers Patrick Massett and John Zinman ("Laura Croft: Tomb Raider" '01, "The Cure" (TV movie) '07) plus the same TV series. Even though their feature film writing is limited, they certainly were able to cut their teeth well on the plethora of TV they have effectively executed. The only problem I could see in this was the flashback happened somewhere in the middle of the film, so where you were in the film, wasn't made evident until the film unfolded more. Otherwise, it was an effective screenplay and one that had its audience guessing of what was going to happen next.
The crowning jewel of this was the directing and acting by its lead actors. As film plots go, this is certainly an interesting one, but its writing could have been a bit more cohesive, otherwise a worthy see. If fine acting is a prerequisite, this will certainly fit the bill.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: R 120mins.
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