Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps

Welcome to another episode of Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps. Directed by Oliver Stone. Written by Allan Loeb & Steven Schiff. Based on characters created by Stanley Weiser and Oliver Stone.

100th review countdown....#83

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language and thematic elements.

Runtime : 133 min

Cast

Michael Douglas - Gordon Gekko

Shia LaBeouf - Jake Moore

Josh Brolin - Bretton James

Carey Mulligan - Winnie Gekko

Eli Wallach - Jules Steinhardt

Susan Sarandon - Jake's Mother

Frank Langella - Louis Zabel

Austin Pendleton - Dr. Masters
 

"Someone reminded me I once said greed is good. Now it seems it's legal."

This is a quote from one of film's greatest movie villains of all time in this long awaited sequel. Gordon Gekko. 

23 years ago audiences were introduced to Gordon Gekko, the narcissistic villain of Oliver Stone's Wall Street. Well it's 2010 and Michael Douglas is back in the role that won him the Academy Award for Best Actor in the original Wall Street. The story begins with Gordon Gekko getting out of prison in 2001, having been sent away for insider trading and securities fraud. There is no one on the outside waiting for him. He is alone, shattered, and seemingly humbled.

Fast forward seven years to Jake Moore, a Wall Street yuppie in a relationship with Gekko's daughter Winnie. They are a young happy couple, but tragedy strikes when Jake's firm is taken over by Bretton James a slimy Wall Street suit looking to make a buck in the economic climate. James spreads rumors about Moore's firm and its leader, James Zabel who, in the film, serves as Jake's father figure.

When Zabel commits suicide Jake blames Bretton James and seeks vengeance. Who better to help him than his future father-in-law and the king of illegal corporate raiding, Gordon Gekko? But life is not without its little trades and Gekko wants his daughter back in his life. Not an easy thing to accomplish, considering Winnie blames Gordon for everything that has gone sour in her life.

The buzz around the announcement of this film was lukewarm at best. Many in the industry and movie goers questioned the relevance and more importantly the necessity of another Wall Street film. When the original was made, it was topical and served as a wake up call to the people hiding their heads in the sand about the ethical or lack of ethical practices of the men on Wall St. So the questions began about Wall Street 2.0 and I have to say.....It worked....to a degree.

The first thing you think of when the movie starts is how are they going to handle the extremely long passage of time between films. The last time we saw Gekko, he was in the prime of his financial life with the moussed up hair and $1,000 suits. Now he's a broken down shell of his former self just out of prison. I feared the movie would suffer due to the dated atmosphere. It played well and set up the future events of the story nicely.

The highlight of this movie is hands down the cast. Led by Douglas. The hairs are grayer but the Gekko fire still burns red hot in this one. You are instantly transported back to Gekko land circa 1987. He commands your attention and delivers his lines with the calculated resound of a caged lion that's just been released back into the wild. Shia LeBeouf really steps his game up with the talent he's surrounded by. This kid has something about him. I can't really place it. His timing is stellar, his mannerism's and facial expressions do more for him at times then actually speaking. I talked about this about Denzel and Clooney. Shia's not there yet but he's on his way. Then you have Carey Mulligan who gives the film it's heart as Winnie. Finally you got Josh Brolin followed by Frank Langella.

Need I say more?

Visually, the film is very stylish. There was a lot of graphical work to display the ebb and flow of the market. There was also some very fancy camera work and editing which added more spice to the overall presentation.

The script is well written save for 1 aspect. The structure. As an editor I know a "little" bit about structure. Telling a story when you have a massive amount of elements at your disposal is not as easy as it sounds. You have to be able to make tough decisions that require losing some great material for the sake of the overall project. Working in TV, I deal with that issue all the time because we are bound by a hard line run time. You would think that working in cinema is easier because you can make a film as long as you want. That's true in theory but let's be real about this. You run the risk of losing your audience if you bombard them with countless scenes of minutiae. They may respond one of two ways and neither of them are good.

Apathy or boredom.

Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps very carefully toes that line. They throw a lot of stuff at you but it's in just the right amount that you still care about everything and everyone. Could the film have been better had Ollie spent some more time in the Avid? For all I know he did and this is what he came up with. The end result is satisfactory considering how much is covered and was meant to be covered in a shade under two and a half hours.

This film isn't perfect but it suits it's purpose. It was another entertaining wake up call to society about the countries economic struggles and status presented by some of tinsel town's finest.

On the 5 star scale. Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps gets 3.5 stars with a "Go See It" recommendation.

That's a wrap for today. Up next is Legend of The Guardians : The Owls of Ga'Hoole.

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"