Movie Review: Gold
One-liner: this artful, gritty and sparse survivalist drama thriller turned meditation stumbles to a clumsy resolution.
Alfonso Cuaron’s deep space masterpiece, Gravity starring Sandra Bullock, was originally written as a desert survival drama before being relocated to our solar system. As if picking up where Cuaron left off, Hayes takes Gold to the outback of Mad Max, creating a suspenseful and isolated survivalist tale with Western vibrations. Instead of the Wild West and prospectors, the story takes place in the not-too-distant future where China has become a much more dominant force.
Centred on two unnamed men on their way to a compound, they literally stumble upon the largest nugget of gold ever found after their vehicle breaks down. Unable to unearth the windfall themselves, they decide to split up as one stays behind to guard their fortune and the other leaves to get an excavator. Testing the bounds of trust and “finder’s keepers”, the drifter is left behind under threat of sandstorm, scorpions, sunstroke and wild dogs.
Zac Efron is a serious actor who’s been on a quest to prove his mettle beyond his appearance. Having broken type with a solid turn as Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Gold is Efron’s chance to rely on everything but his film star looks. Sparsely scripted as one would expect with this kind of survivalist drama, Gold finds Efron digging deep in a committed lead performance amid the grit and heat as an enigmatic drifter.
Playing opposite Gold’s director, producer, co-writer and actor Anthony Hayes, the two have a slow-boiling chemistry with the wily Hayes reminiscent of Russell Crowe at times. Susie Porter completes the lead trio with a defiant, haunting and threatening turn that could have used more screen time.
“I’m Mr. Lonely…”
Gold has an artful eye, switching things up to present beautiful wasteland vistas and translate the emptiness of its wide open spaces. The evolution of the drifter’s sunburn and dirt set against the arid environment keeps tabs on the character’s slow-and-steady progression as dehydration, hunger and his Gollum-level obsession with the precious gold begins to take its toll. Coming in to land, the psychological drama amplifies into a curious and overdue dimension but this dark dreaming is subverted by subpar CGI.
This sparse survivalist wrestles with compelling themes around human nature, leverages a courgeous lead performance and creates a moody atmosphere. As much as the grit of Gold’s lawless landscape is established and the film aims for a level of dramatic poetry and restraint, it seems like many of its missteps could have been avoided with more forethought.
While Gold makes a promising start, serving as a meditation on greed, a bleak and wobbly third act undoes a lot of hard work. What many may have already guessed becomes apparent only to exit on a tonally incongruent and unintentionally funny note of dark comedy. After a big twist lands, Gold tries to follow-through only to cave to a final moment that’s literally out-of-the-blue. Designed to serve as a cautionary tale, the unfortunate and rushed resolution comes across as ham-fisted rather than haunting.
The bottom line: Promising
