GEORGE Clooney and Julia Roberts team up again for the first time since Ocean's Twelve and chemistry is in the air.

Jodie Foster's Money Monster may be a hostage thriller with heady and very apt themes about the financial mess we are in but it is the charismatic leads that hold the film together.

British actor Jack O’Connell is also excellent, steadily making a name for himself in Hollywood after a series of acclaimed films like '71, Starred Up and Unbroken.

Money Monster sees Clooney play Lee Gates, an arrogant but charming presenter on a slick, stylised financial show.

But his world comes crashing down when Kyle Budwell (O'Connell) takes him hostage by gunpoint, forces him to wear an explosive vest and makes the producer Patty (Roberts) continue filming them in front of millions of viewers as part of his demands.

You learn that irate investor Kyle has lost his inheritance from his late mum after Lee recommends a bad stock investment that he says is 'safer than a savings account'.

Kyle wants justice not just for him but for everyone who lost money, amounting to $800million.

Foster builds up tension behind the camera and makes the most of her well chosen leads.

There is also a great supporting cast including Dominic West from The Wire and Giancarlo Esposito from Breaking Bad.

To say more would ruin the experience but there are plenty of twists and turns.

The film's only weakness is that what Foster has to say about money and power is sometimes lost amid the noise, chaos and excitement of the hostage situation itself.

But the aptly-named Money Monster taps into themes of manipulation, greed, hidden motives and the vulgar side of capitalism giving plenty of pause for thought after the final moments.

RATING: 7/10

DAVID MORGAN