The ghost of Kevin Spacey will forever hang over this film.

This film has everything going for it. Beautiful cinematography by Dariusz Wolski. An engrossing score by Daniel Pemberton. Some wonderful performances from Michelle Williams, Romain Duris, Christopher Plummer and Charlie Plummer. But, the film just does not work. It feels shiny without any soul. It is a kidnapping film without thrill. It explores greed without substance. It is long, overbearing and in the end serviceable as a film, but not very entertaining. Mark Wahlberg is horribly miscast in his role and Scott could have done better there.

As for the Kevin Spacey thing, if I had not known about the history of the production of this film, I would not have even suspected the late recasting of his role to Christopher Plummer.