As its swaggering subject sniffs out another ally and a new angle, careless of the pain he’s causing his family, the picture seems almost impressed.

Rhinegold is a bold act of misdirection, leading us through a story that's ultimately and surprisingly inspiring, if only because of how truly unlikely it seems.

What it makes up for in range and an extended runtime, it loses in substance: the facts of the story have a narrativized feel about them, and — more critically — are not so much dressed up as they are inserted pell-mell into a swirling narrative.

A dull, overlong and meandering biopic that bites off more than it could chew.