Movie Information
Release Date: January 27, 2017
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Writer: Patrick Massett, John Zinman
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Toby Kebbell, Bill Camp, Bill Camp, Joshua Harto, Timothy Simons, Craig T. Nelson, Macon Blair, Adam LeFevre, Frank Wood, Michael Landes, Bhavesh Patel, Rachael Taylor, Stacy Keach, Bruce Greenwood, Vic Browder, Dylan Kenin, Ben Whitehair, Stafford Douglas, William Sterchi, Jacob Browne, Art Tedesco
MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 121 minutes
Production Company: Black Bear Pictures, Hwy61, Living Films, TWC-Dimension
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Language: English
Country: USA
Budget: N/A
How nice it would be
to wake up in the middle of your dream job every day? It’d be amazing
of course by all measures. I know I’ve had a job or two that I’ve
despised, and others that had their pros. But to begin each day digging
for gold can be that adventure you’ve only imagined. That was the case
for prospector Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey), a man
who’s as optimistic as can be. While his journey is inspiring, the story
of how it unfolds isn’t as much. Even with his high praised film Syriana, I wasn’t expecting much from director Stephen Gaghan; but I at least wanted a balance within the narrative.
First impressions
are long lasting, and the opening of this film must have skipped class
that day. Gaghan’s attempt to show Kenny’s backstory started out with
promise, but then you realized it didn’t serve any purpose and turned
into nothing more than extra fluff. With this being based on a true
story you have to accept it, but the delivery is all that matters. A
seven year jump towards the future gives no real grasp of anything
important, and I didn’t see its relevancy.
Kenny Wells was a
man you hated to love. What’s interesting is early on his character went
from a smooth talking seductive master to a smooth talking weasel that
sweats poison. That’s how it appeared. Imagine looking at a drug
addicted drunk, but you know he knows that he means business. It’d be a
hard pill to swallow, but at least he’s after the money. This character
shift took place over a number of years, but the film never addresses
what made him that way. I’m not sure if there was some sort of mental
breakdown, accident, or any random event that changed his ways. So
you’re just left wondering what changed his demeanor. McConaughey played
the role well. While appearing like a sloth rolling around in mud, you
at least respected his passion to do the unlikely.
Not only did he roll
around in mud, but so did the first act; bad intro, then a lift, only
to fall back down. As you’re watching Kenny rev up for his adventure,
the script is all over the place when he’s counseling himself. I
couldn’t tell if he was dreaming, hallucinating, or if things were
really happening. It would’ve been better to keep things nice and
simple, but the director tries to be clever with the plot and creates a
big mess. Not all is lost when Kay (Bryce Dallas Howard), his
love interest, comes around. She lit up the room every time she entered
to check Kenny when necessary. He had so much passion in regards to his
work, and to see the motivation behind it all through Kay was uplifting.
So with the film stumbling right out the blocks, tripping over the first few hurdles, it gained some stride and finished the race strong. As the film progresses, and we’re getting to know more about the characters, the real fun starts to begin. Seeing Kenny act like an innocent little child trying to do good made you feel warm inside. A lot can be learned from this film in reference to friends, greed, and being prepared; but it doesn’t pop enough for me to go screaming praises from the roof tops.