Plot: The true of story of the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III. The grandson of notorious rich-man, John Paul Getty.

Ridley Scott as a director is obviously one of the most successful that is still working today.

However, almost all of his films in recent years have not been been heavily praised by critics and audiences.

The only exception would be The Martian, as that became a big success.

With this new release, there has been quite a lot of news surround this.

As some of you are probably aware, the story involves famous rich-man John Paul Getty. The role of Getty was originally Kevin Spacey’s. But after the sexual assault allegations, a dramatic recasting was underway, and it saw Christopher Plummer take the reigns. With the forced change coming so close to its release date, they actually managed to film the required scenes in time.

Now that I've seen the film, when you actually see the scenes that Plummer needed to do, it's amazing that Scott and his team managed to pull it off in time. It does genuinely looked like they had Plummer cast the whole time. Also, if you were unaware of these events, the film would feel totally seamless to you. What makes it even more astonishing, is that Plummer was actually Scott's original choice.

You might remember a similar incident happened in Gladiator, when the great Oliver Reed sadly died during filming and they had to super impose him in some of his final scenes. It managed to work really well.

But thankfully, it is just not this aspect of the film that makes it worth watching.

It's a tense and exciting thrill-ride that gives you a real insight into the character of Getty. He does seem like a real life Citizen Kane with his own Xanadu. I don't often get totally gripped by characters who are stinkingly rich, like in some of Martin Scorsese's movies. But there are times like this where it manages to work for me.

I think Christopher Plummer is the biggest draw, and has a great job with this role. His characters way of thinking really sold me and became the part of the film that I got invested with the most.

My initial thoughts on hearing Plummer already getting nominated for awards was to just spite Spacey. But after seeing the film, I think they're genuine recognition for its efforts.

Michelle Williams as usual is really good and almost steals the show from Plummer. I was a bit unsure of her performance at first. But once her character takes a tremendous turn of attitude with the situation at hand, it is quite a powerful switch.

Another performance that was a bit of scene-stealer was Romain Duris, who plays one of the kidnappers. It gave a lot of humanity to the antagonists and that was a big contribution for my overall enjoyment.

As for Mark Wahlberg, he does a more played-down performance which worked really well with his character. You don't often see this side of him. But it was great to remind us of his range.

I don't have many major negatives to speak of. But if I was being nit-picky, I would say that it was hard to feel empathy for the capture. I was more interested in the story in general rather than the protagonists. So now, it was just all about how much I enjoyed it.

I felt it to be pretty riveting from start to finish. I liked the way it told the story, it was thorough, it kept me interested and on the edge. It was helped by the heavy dialogue that explored how rich men think and understand society. I also felt the operatic style of the score really enhanced many scenes and should definitely be mentioned as one of the films strongest positives.

I must mention that the trailer does suggest a more frenetic pace. It is closer to a slow-burner. But it is still as exciting as you might expect.

I am happy that Plummer managed to get this role as this seemed made for him. I'm not obviously not pleased in how he got. But to see the performance happen just made it a satisfying end result to the whole situation.

I am also in a way glad that this film is getting attention. It might not be for good intentions. But they will want to see this film, and they will be able to see a highly entertaining film.

This is definitely one of Ridley Scott's best. I would not put it up with his masterpieces of Gladiator, Alien and Blade Runner. But I would put in the next level down with The Martin, American Gangster and Kingdom Of Heaven.

Rating: 8/10