Elevated by Jessica Chastain

Rating: 5/10 (6 February 2020)

The movie takes too much time to really "get into it". The first hour (and probably a bit more) gets a bit boring or tedious, with way too many minutes needed to present Molly and her circumstances to us (childhood, education, etc.), key to comprehend the movie at an emotional level. To understand her motivations. It works, in the end, but that doesn't change the fact that it gets tedious in the first half. The use of voice over doesn't help (does it ever?). Without Jessica Chastain, the character would've been even harder to like, enjoy or appreciate, giving that it has few redeemable traits and a bunch more of bad ones. Because she's the only main character, it's a problem.
The story is good but I didn't feel it was as epic as the movie tried convince us it was. This is not really about the intricacies of the corrupt police, political and judicial system allowing the mobs to control and fight over the criminal underworld. It wasn't about foundations and corporations working as money laundering facades nor it was about the fraudulent world of finances ("The Big Short"). Because the story focuses on her, something that could've been epic, gets smaller. The movie tells us is big, but we don't see big.
About the performances, Idris Elba is also really good as Molly's moral lawyer, and Kevin Costner makes everything of the few minutes of screentime, helping the movie to land Molly's emotional arc. The score is kind of forgettable. The editing questionable (like I said, some scenes felt boring but in theory they shouldn't have been).
The movie is fine, and it's not a waste of time nor it is knowing about this story, but I just can't forget the boring first half and the not so great execution of the second part.