All the Money in the World (2017)
Directed by Ridley Scott
The story of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother to convince his billionaire grandfather Jean Paul Getty to pay the ransom.
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What critics compared All the Money in the World to
David Scarpa, who previously wrote Scott's two movies All the Money in the World and last year's Napoleon, opts for the slavish route that echoes the first movie's storytelling beats right down to the revenge angle.
Screenwriter David Scarpa — who also penned “All the Money in the World” and “Napoleon” — constantly invites comparisons to the original by making explicit references to key lines of dialogue and remixing iconic scenes.
The bulk of the blame resides at screenwriter David Scarpa’s doorstep. The scribe, who wrote Scott’s All the Money in the World and last year’s Napoleon, makes this an unnecessary continuation. Long gone are the epic speeches (“Where death is, we are not” pales compared to David Franzoni, William Nicholson and John Logan’s “Death smiles at us all, all a man can do is smile back”) and the emotional heft of Gladiator is lacking.
The script by David Scarpa, who previously worked with Scott on “Napoleon” and “All the Money in the World,” begins in the early third century, some two decades after the events of the original (which closed around 193), with an attack on Numidia, apparently a kingdom (rather than the Roman province it actually was) ruled by brawny chieftain Jugurtha (Peter Mensah), by a fleet led by the Roman general Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal).
But it almost feels like Scott and screenwriter David Scarpa (who also wrote the Scott films "All the Money in the World" and "Napoleon") are performing a little bait-and-switch.
The screenplay, credited to David Scarpa (who wrote Napoleon and All the Money in the World for Scott), often seems as close to a remake as a sequel. It follows the template of David Franzoni’s earlier Gladiator script almost beat for beat, most of its characters traceable to direct counterparts from that film.
…greed in All the Money in the World…