Kidnapping of John Paul Getty lll told in style

philosophical musings about the power and nature of money, both to corrupt and to sustain – out of the bedrock of this otherwise borderline B-movie.

Based on portions of John Pearson’s 1995 book,

the film is larded with such epigrammatic quips as “There’s nothing people can’t find a way to turn into money”. That’s Fletcher Chase (Mark Wahlberg) speaking to the kidnapped boy’s distraught mother, Gail (Michelle Williams), in one of many cash-themed conversations Scarpa finds time to shoehorn in, amid the de rigueur panicking, strategising and negotiating.

After the elder Getty (Christopher Plummer) refuses to meet the Italian kidnappers’ initial demand for $17 million for the return of his grandson, nicely portrayed by Charlie Plummer (no relation), the ransom eventually drops to $4m. An ex-CIA operative, the cocky Fletcher is Getty’s chief liaison with the kidnappers, police and Gail, who was left nearly penniless after divorcing the teen’s father, J Paul Getty II (Andrew Buchan), depicted in the film as a feckless lush.

Getty – or the “old man,” as the billionaire is known – is depicted as a soulless miser who puts Scrooge to shame. That caricature is probably not terribly far from the truth, even TOUGH NEGOTIATORS: Gail Harr Chase (Mark Wahlberg) are mobbed b