Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Money Monster - A Hostage Situation Shown Live on TV

After having such a roller coaster day in the office where all the news that I received was either very good or very bad, I felt I needed a refreshing. Having heard about the new movie playing in theater since last Friday about a TV host for stock advice being put on ransom during the show, I felt this would be a good movie to watch (also because it's the only movie I have not watched in the theater near my home). Anyway, I went home quite fast that day and reached the location in time to buy ticket. Surprisingly for Tuesday night, it was almost fully booked. Maybe they were interested because of the actor/actress playing, I don't know. Anyway, below is my view of the movie.

Brief Story Line (I will try to put as little info as possible to avoid spoiler, but if you are really worried, maybe you can skip this part)

The movie started with some news on TV about a company called IBIS Clear Capital which was having a glitch in their trading algorithm and resulted to a heavy loss of USD 800million in 1 night. Later scene moved to our main character Lee Gates (played by the famous George Clooney), a host for TV show called Money Monster, a fun show giving advice on stocks to buy/sell in the market getting ready for another show. The director Patty Fenn (played by the famous Julia Roberts) who was giving some info & instruction to Lee about today's show which would discuss about the IBIS matter. They have also invited the Chief Communication Officer (PR) of IBIS named Diane Lester (played by Caitriona Balfe - Now You See Me, Escape Plan) to give insights on what actually happened with IBIS.

Before the show started, Ron the producer (played by Christopher Denham - Argo) informed about a new product from a company about an erectile cream which got approval on the health regulator and the producer's stock supposedly would increase. Lee jokingly asked Ron to try it on to confirm that it was as good as it said.

When the show just started a while, a person bringing 2 boxes seemed to be a courier lost in the show area. Suddenly the person went into the show and flashed a gun. He threatened everyone at the studio that the show must go on, otherwise he would shoot Lee. Patty who was worried about showing this to the audience finally decided to continue airing. She later instructed everyone in the studio that was not directly involved should leave. By then, the person who later on revealed to be Kyle (played by Jack O'Connel - Unbroken, 300:Rise of an Empire) had forced Lee to put on a jacket with bombs and he was holding the switch that when released would detonate the bomb.

Later police would be involved and the show itself became quite public. As we would have guessed, Kyle was a grumpy investor who lost his money through the investment on IBIS, which was advised by Lee and he blamed Lee also Walt Camby the CEO of IBIS (played by Dominic West). His purpose of this action was to find out the truth on the reason for the loss of his investment and if it's a mistake from IBIS, he wanted Walt to admit it. 

So what would happen next on this drama of hostage taking on TV? Can Lee, Patty and the rest of the crew get out of this alive? Can IBIS people assist on this matter? And what will happen to Kyle? All of this would be answered by the end of the movie. There would be plenty of noteworthy scenes till the conclusion. Make sure you are watching them without any interruption as there were scenes that would only reveal the connection at the end.

End of Brief Story Line

I truly enjoyed the moment watching this movie. Surprisingly there were some funny moments even in the tense situation. Slowly we would also be revealed on what actually happened with IBIS. So I guess this movie can also be put under thriller genre.

I also like George Clooney's character here as he was very charming as a TV host. I felt that Julia Robert's character was very believable as a director (like a "mother figure" to a boy in Lee). I also symphatize Jack O'Connel's character as I believe other viewers would be. In a drama movie, characters would be the strong attraction. So having 3 main characters plus some other supporting characters like Diane Lester, Ron the producer, Lenny the cameraman and other smaller roles that have just the perfect playing time was very good.

I believe this movie is a hidden gem. Not many people may want to watch this, if they are more interested in action movies that are currently playing in theaters. Sadly enough, it's not playing in a lot theaters today as there is a new movie already playing.

For those of you looking for thriller drama with some funny scenes and interesting story with strong performances as well as current day's condition and directed by Jodie Foster, this one is really worth watching. I myself totally forgotten about my office's challenges after watching this movie.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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