Lacklustre Gold feels more like a bronze
Gold
(out of 4) Starring Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Stacy Keach, Bruce Greenwood and Craig T. Nelson. Directed by Stephen Gaghan. Opens Friday at major theatres. 121 minutes.
“It’s amazing how a little gold dust can change everything,” Kenny Wells says in a voice-over that sets the stage for Gold, a lightly fictionalized account of the1993 Bre-X mining scandal that ultimately changed mining regulations in Canada.
With the story shifted to the late 1980s and the firm made American rather than Canadian, Matthew McConaughey plays Wells, a sloppy, rumpled Nevada man who has inherited his father’s mineral prospecting firm. He has neither the skill nor the aptitude for the hard work necessary to keep the company going, but he does possess enough good sense to hitch his wagon to a more experienced prospector, geologist Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez).
Together they decide to search for gold in the Indonesian jungle, believing a treasure trove of the precious metal is there for the taking.
“I don’t just believe, I know,” Wells tells Acosta, and he seems sincere, even if he gained his confidence by way of a dream. But what will it take to make the big strike?
“There’s no right or wrong in this business, there’s only hits or misses,” Acosta says, in a foreshadow of the slipperiness to come.
When the two go to a promising mine site in Indonesia, where Acosta is known as the “river walker,” the film hits its stride as an Indiana Jones-style adventure.
But the jungle will test them both, not to mention the film’s director, Stephen Gaghan ( Syriana), and screenwriters Patrick Massett and John Zinman, who aren’t sure whether they’re remaking The Treasure of the Sierra Madre or The Wolf of Wall Street. They end up failing both influences.
Wells battles malaria, the prospecting crew walks off the job as money runs out and it looks like game over for the gold hunters.
“The last card you turn over is the only one that matters,” Acosta counters, talking about a little bluff that may help their business.
It’s only a matter of time before the two hit pay dirt and their stock suddenly rises, both on Wall Street and romantically (Bryce Dallas Howard is woefully underemployed as Wells’ wife).
Long-ago headlines record how it ultimately turned out, although the real Bre-X saga was a lot more exciting than this unreasonable facsimile.
McConaughey, as usual, turns in a fine performance as the decidedly non-glamorous Wells. He sports a paunch after reportedly gaining 40 pounds for the role — and his unflattering haircut does nothing to help his appearance. Ramirez is equally good as the brains behind the scam.
But the effort was largely for naught, because the film doesn’t hold up in the end. We know going in that things are not going to turn out well. Gold is more of a bronze.