Money Monster

Money Monster is thriller with a nice concept but a weak dramatic drive. The emotional ending is impressive, but everything before that is neither as engaging and dynamic as in Ron Howard’s Ransom nor as cleverly plotted as in Spike Lee’s Inside Man. What it is, though, is as forgettable as Costa-Gavras’s Mad City. I am surprised that someone as ambitious as George Clooney agreed to produce this. Maybe he relied on the director’s more personal input (and talent). (08/09/2016)

It seemed to me that I already saw something like this somewhere else and made better. A fine idea, but more work was need on the screenplay and it lacks an emotional climax. The kidnapper is unpleasant and O'Connell doesn’t have enough charisma to make up for the flatness of his character and his imperfect intentions. Clooney isn’t cast well even though he gives a decent performance, I could maybe imagine Downey in the role. Dominic West just turned up to pick up his wages, which is a shame. Foster isn’t good at drama and several times she spoils a perfectly good subplot which could have engaged the viewer. I liked the overall message, the realistic consequence of a cliché situations and the well illustrated corporate structure, but it had much more potential. (08/20/2016)

I guess it's on the level of Mad City – nothing too original or surprising, but a well-acted and seamlessly shot film with a good concept. George Clooney and Julia Roberts are one of those dream acting duos and would draw attention to practically anything, so it's a good thing they don't waste their star potential. As for the script, I liked that everything took place in real time and I enjoyed all the black humor and satirical quips. (03/24/2019)

A much over-used and tired fight movie that impresses only in the way it manages to combine several thematic relics from different times into a single whole. Namely, the illusion of the omnipotence of television, the Occupy syndrome, the cunning bankers who cannot be brought down except by popular grassroots justice, or the common folk connected by a television screen in the upper corner of a room in a cozy bar. Although it manages at times to update the entire framework by punishing the main capitalist with an internet meme or deliberately knocking itself down a level in a joyous video conference scene with the knocked-up moll of a young terrorist, the final climax with its endlessly incompetent police, chanting people, and epilogue fist in the air in the face of a criminal bourgeois quickly reminds us what kind of film museum we are actually in. (10/20/2016)

Certainly less memorable than the similarly staged Phone Booth or the smart Inside Man. Jodie Foster does has experience with the material, the running time is short, so they produce and coax a fast pace and dynamic editing, but it needs more twists and adrenaline moments, which are basically taken care of only by a guy with a gun. A thematically interesting and certainly serious-looking affair with a solid narrative value that could be even spicier and have a more distinctive signature. (08/28/2016)