Gold

TWC-Dimension | Release Date: January 27, 2017

6.4	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 73 Ratings

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TVJerryJan 31, 2017

For his Oscar-winning role in "Dallas Buyers Club" Matthew McConaughey got sickly skinny. This time, he's thinned his hair, added a goofy tooth and grown a gut (he also spends more time in his loosey whiteys than in any of his other movies).For his Oscar-winning role in "Dallas Buyers Club" Matthew McConaughey got sickly skinny. This time, he's thinned his hair, added a goofy tooth and grown a gut (he also spends more time in his loosey whiteys than in any of his other movies). He plays the head of a failing mining company who has a vision of gold in the jungles of Indonesia. After the initial trip, he has to contend with the business people who want to manage his findings. By his presence in almost every scene, it's obvious that McConaughey was going for another tour de force performance (dare I say Oscar "gold"). Unfortunately, he's trying too hard and his character is too manically obnoxious to be likable. To make matters worse, the script is bland and the direction is lackluster. While McConaughey gives it his all, the movie lacks the depth and verve to make it worth the weight he'll have to lose to get back in shape.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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SpangleJul 11, 2017

A rising star in the 1990s only wind up being written off as a pretty face in the 2000s, Matthew McConaughey found the first half of the 2010s to be the kindest and most successful of his career. Starring in critical hit after critical hit,A rising star in the 1990s only wind up being written off as a pretty face in the 2000s, Matthew McConaughey found the first half of the 2010s to be the kindest and most successful of his career. Starring in critical hit after critical hit, McConaughey nabbed financial success via Magic Mike and Interstellar and netted Oscar gold in Dallas Buyers Club. Toss in some of the best performances of the decade in indie darling Mud and HBO series True Detective and the early 2010s are guaranteed to go down as the most successful critical stretch of the Texan actors career. Since then, however, he has struggled. From Gus Van Sant's stinker The Sea of Trees to the mixed Free State of Jones (which, as a McConaughey apologist, I liked), McConaughey's live action worked has slumped. In fact, aside from an animated turn in Kubo and the Two Strings, he has not been in a truly good film since 2014. It may not seem like that long of a time period, but for a man who made appearances in eight critical darlings between 2011 and 2014 plus an acclaimed television series in the time period, it is a real drought considering he was in five films in 2016.

One can see what drew him to Gold. Directed by Stephen Gaghan, Gold marked Gaghan's first directorial work since 2005's Syriana. For Gaghan to get up and direct again, it likely had to be one heck of a script. With the project having roots in 2011 with Michael Mann and Christian Bale sniffing around it, one cannot be blamed for being elated to see this modern day Treasure of the Sierra Madre pop up with Gaghan at the helm and McConaughey in the leading role. The end result, however, is a rather safe film that is enjoyable, often truly engaging, but always a big sloppy mess. One thing is for sure though: it is not a mess due to McConaughey, who once more fires on all cylinders. He is, however, starting to lose much of that good will built up in the "McConaissance". Should his next two projects, The Dark Tower and White Boy Rick, also be met with a mixed reception, who knows what the future will have in store for the man.

Treasure of the Sierra Madre this is not , however, even with Gaghan snatching the themes from that film of desperation, hope, greed, and dreams of striking it rich, and tossing it into this real life tale of two men who had fooled everyone into thinking they had the biggest gold find of the 1980s. A rags to riches tale, the film feels as though it is trying to play off of recent financial scam films such as The Wolf of Wall Street or The Big Short with the film being somewhat tongue-in-cheek and often told through narration. With the narration being in the form of an FBI interview, the film hardly earns any originality points. Taking the party scenes of those aforementioned financial films, blended with a gangster-style story of a man who strikes it rich, fights with his wife and dumps her for blonde bimbos, and has uproariously insane encounters abroad and at-home, Gold is a film that has been done many times before. For this, it is rather disappointing to watch in many respects given its general stale quality and the eternal feeling that this has all been done before.

Featuring a 1980s punk rock soundtrack that includes Joy Division, Iggy Pop, and Depeche Mode, Gold is a film about a moron and a genius coming together to strike it rich. The moron, Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey), is along for the ride. Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez) is a skilled con artist who, when Wells comes up to him with an offer to drill wherever, he opts to go 50-50 with the man and takes the financial world for a ride. Kenny, flush with cash and newly single from Kay (Bryce Dallas Howard), parties it up with naked blondes and has more play money than a man with his mental capacity should have. This punk rock party music accompanies these party scenes and adds this loose and casual nature to these scenes where it is easy to see that these moments are fleeting and the cash disposable. Kenny, a classic figure of a man who wishes to get rich but has no idea how to not be poor, rapidly finds himself in a position where all of the fame, fortune, and notoriety has crumbled around him. Right when he thought he was king of the world, it turned out everything he thought he knew could not have been further from reality.

The film’s clichés do hold it back as previously mentioned, but they are hardly detrimental. On the surface, its story and themes are compelling even if Gaghan breaks no new ground. In fact, in its depiction of a man who is just along for the ride rather than the mastermind himself, Gold does manage to set itself apart from any number of similar biopics. Unlike other films, this one gives you a hero who is an awful businessman and constantly makes the wrong decision, ensuring that the audience will recognize he could never be the mastermind behind this scandal.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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EpicLadySpongeJan 27, 2017

In the exact terms of movies, Gold is nowhere from being a golden movie. No, it's not even there from earning a bronze medal either. It's like so far away from earning anything.

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

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GreatMartinFeb 1, 2017

Matthew McConaughey can be hammier than any actor around as he is in many scenes of “Gold” but, at the same time, he can turn on a dime and touch your heart and brain as he also does in this picture. He can also turn himself into the antiMatthew McConaughey can be hammier than any actor around as he is in many scenes of “Gold” but, at the same time, he can turn on a dime and touch your heart and brain as he also does in this picture. He can also turn himself into the anti romantic comedy hero which he started his career with and become a drunken, hair receding, funny middle age pot belly, looking like he needs a shave man who can still get the pretty girl. Yes he cleans up very good, but it really is hard to cover up the loose, dirty-whiteys, mainly wet, he shows in a few scenes, under a tux.

Though McConaughey is the center of the film many scenes are quietly stolen from him by Edgar Ramirez, who plays his partner in discovering a mountain of gold and they develop a believable bromance while wheeling and dealing the men in suits and on Wall Street. Another scene stealer is Bryce Dallas Howard as McConaughey’s long time girlfriend who believes in, and puts up with, him.

Based on a true story it tells of a dreamer whose dreams come true making him a very wealthy man but, as always is the case, has the same problems he had when he was poor. Like most dreamers it is the thrill of the chase and when you catch up with a dream and see it burst in front of you it is hard to know how to react.

While Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez and the cast do their best, and it is good, the writers of the screenplay, Patrick Massett and John Zinman, don’t quite deliver.

Director Stephen Gaghan handles the business scenes and the lushness of and in the Indonesian valleys but doesn’t quite connect with the performers in the Nevada scenes nor does he reign in when McConaughney gets too hammy.

“Gold” is an interesting enough movie that I want to read the true story but not good enough for me to recommend.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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iCronicAug 7, 2017

McConaughey gained 45lbs for the role to match Bryce Dallas Howard's physique. The film is mildly entertaining but it follows a generic script. McConaughey goes fully overboard and it's laughable at times

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TyranianApr 9, 2019

Mccounaghey is great but the film is derivative and not that interesting. Shame.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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