This weeks official Movie Of The Week comes in the shape of Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut, 'Molly's Game', starring Jessica Chastain, Kevin Costner and Idris Elba.
'Molly's Game' follows the story of real-life person, Molly Bloom, a woman who was once known for her exceptional talent and ability in the world of competitive skiing, but is now more recognised for the role she played in forming and functioning some of the largest illegally-ran poker games in New York City.
This film has a storyline that certainly lives up to it's intriguing synopsis. And I personally can think of no one better to tell a story as unique and as captivating as this one, than one of the greatest screenwriters of all time in Aaron Sorkin.
Watching this film, you will genuinely have yourself questioning the legitimacy of some of the things you are seeing unveil before your eyes. The battles of mental and physical struggle that Molly Bloom faces throughout her journey to becoming 'The Poker Queen Of New York' are genuinely shocking and quite terrifying.
Having said that, Jessica Chastain does an excellent job of portraying Molly as the protagonist in this film. Much like how Sorkin is the best screenwriter to tell Molly's story, Chastain is the best actress to portray her, and I feel strongly that this is one of Chastain's best performances.
Alongside Chastain, Idris Elba also gives one if his better performances as the Charlie Jaffey, a character based on Molly's real-lie eternee throughout her entire journey in claiming her innocence and maintaining her freedom.
Chastain and Costner, who plays Molly's Father, also establish a unique and compelling Father-Daughter relationship, which according to Molly herself, was deemed as very accurate to her real-life experiences.
It is common for a Father to be stricter on some of his children than others, but if you were Molly in her situation, you'd have every reason to feel as though you were never wanted in the first place the way she is treat by her Father.
For a feature film debut, Aaron Sorkin does a solid job with this film. He fails to take any real creative risks behind the camera lens to add to the audience experience, but it is essentially a movie that relies heavily on the screenplay being strong and the deliverance of lines.
Recent additions to Sorkin's filmography have suggested that this may just be the filmmakers style and may feel reluctant to taking too many creative risks behind the camera. But then again when you have someone as technically gifted at screenwriting as Aaron Sorkin is typing up your scripts, this feels irrelevant.
'Molly's Game' is a fast paced an highly intriguing movie with a great concept that reaches just about every height of entertainment. If you are famliar with and enjoy any of Sorking's recent work in the past, you are destined to enjoy this film.
Overall Rating: 8/10
Comments