1980s United States. Thanks to his father’s mining business, Kenny Wells has developed an obsession for gold. Under the loving eyes of his girlfriend Kay, he desperately looks for a way to succeed. Thinking he has finally discovered an unique opportunity, he spends all his savings and flies to Indonesia to meet Mike Acosta. With the help of this controversial geologist, he goes into the dense jungle in Borneo to look for gold – and soon finds what looks like an extraordinary vein, which attracts the attention of the whole world...

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Behind Gold is Stephen Gaghan, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Steven Soderbergh's Traffic and the director of Syriana. The addition of Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey and the excellent Edgar Ramirez makes for plenty of potential. The disappointment is therefore all the greater. Over two tedious hours, Gold struggles to embrace its subject matter and develop the multiple plot elements. Its ambitions are clear but their execution is muddled. A mix of excitement, adventure, romance and thriller, Gold is hesitant, disjointed and too timid in exploring the fascinating passion of its main characters. Given little to work with besides some physical gimmicks – an extra 30 pounds and a “balding” skull – McConaughey’s performance becomes shtick within a movie that sadly lacks a filmmaker's eye.