Gold (2016) – Review

Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey) is a prospector, greatly in need of a lucky break, who decides to team up with an eager geologist in a final bid to discover gold in the dangerous jungle of Indonesia. With Kenny raising the funds, primarily from the America, and Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez) doing the mining, what could possibly go wrong? A relatively interesting and enthralling drama with one or two twists along the way that are good enough to keep you hooked.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Director: Stephen Gaghan
Writers: Patrick Massett, John Zinman
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramírez, Bryce Dallas Howard

There’s always something distinct about movies based on real life events and Gold was no different. The film’s story is based primarily on the Bre-X scandal that stunned much of the world in the nineties, with some details being changed, extracted, or added to for dramatisation purposes as you’d expect for a film of this nature.

One thing the filmmakers did really well, was their realistic portrayal of a man, Kenny Wells, with very little in his life, working his way to the top, only to then be faced with the prospect of losing it all. Many subplots and extra layers of complexity were added too, including the addition of the story behind his relationship with long-term partner, Kay (Bryce Dallas Howard), and the blossoming friendship he was building with his seemingly trustworthy business partner, Mike Acosta. Both relationships however, become slightly more strained and challenging as the movie goes on.

With that being said, I do feel like there was a minor issue with the amount of time it took for the film to get into the swing of things. The flick started pretty slowly before eventually finding its stride and becoming more clear to the viewer in terms of direction, and once it did, it was an enjoyable and easy enough watch on a whole. Another small flaw worth noting, would be the difficulty of understanding some of the characters – some parts of the dialogue was either too low in volume or too muffled in general, making it difficult to comprehend in patches.

As per usual, Matthew McConaughey did a brilliant job, this time in his role as Kenny Wells, looking and acting every bit of the wild and frenzied character he was portraying, with a fearless attitude to boot, while Edgar Ramirez adopted the role of Michael Acosta, a more laid back and relaxed character, a stark contrast to Kenny Wells.

All in all, a pretty good drama based on a true story, but one which took a little bit longer than expected to get into the full swing of things. Most certainly worth a shot if you’re into these kind of movies.

“The guy who invented the hamburger was smart… But the guy who invented the cheeseburger… Genius.”

Kenny Wells – Gold