Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

If I knew more about Wall Street, banks, etc. I would have better enjoyed the movie. I felt uncomfortable with the hustle and bustle of city life. Reminds me of why I live in a small town. Charlie Sheen ruined himself for drama but showing up with two beauties on his arms: priceless.

So I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much out of this movie. Having never seen the first movie, and jumping into a sequel with Shia LaBeouf in a leading role, I was wary. However, this is probably the best role I've ever seen Shia play! There are many cameos for fans of the original, and a great deal of time was taken to make the dialogue accurate for its subject matter.

That said, I had friends who didn't know all the lingo, and I was also left in the dark from time to time. That didn't inhibit me greatly as the story was moving on several different fronts, so it wasn't always dry, or completely focused on the business aspects of the story.

This is a story of revenge, betrayal, family, and love, all at once. Because these are all told as separate interactions through the movie, it risks being jarring as it shifts focus, but Oliver Stone does a good job of keeping the scenes related so there are only a few rocky transitions.

I am generally a fan of comedy or action/adventure movies, so this genre is not likely to induce a satisfactory experience for me, but I really enjoyed this.

The weak point to the movie for me was Carey Mulligan, who played Winnie Gekko. Her character was completely unaccessable to me. I didn't know where she was coming from most of the time, and her performance seemed contrived. I shouldn't say it's entirely her fault though. I almost feel like this was too important of a character in the movie to be played the way it was. She seemed powerless and insignificant. Basically, I couldn't believe she was the character she was playing. Perhaps there will be a director's cut where we will see why she is important to Jake (Shia) because their ideologies are too different for me to believe their characters should be as interested in each other as we were lead to believe.

This is a solidly made sequel, with an engrossing story and lots to enjoy, but it does get intense. This isn't a lite movie experience, and having broken the 2 hour mark you're going to have to commit the time both in the theater, and afterwards to digest.

Wall Street 2 starts off the way you'd hope it would: Gordon Gecko (Michael Douglas) is back, he's out of jail, and he's stepped into a world where some things have changed but the game hasn't. As he says himself: "Someone reminded me I once said 'Greed is good.' Now it seems it's legal. Because everyone is drinking the same Kool Aid." It couldn't be closer to the truth: the Wall Street of the 80s has only gotten worse, and Oliver Stone knows it. His plot is ripped straight out of the headlines of 2008: the investment firm Jake Moore (Shia LeBeouf) works for is on the brink of destruction (think Lehman Brothers), and Bretton James's (Josh Brolin) own firm stands to knock out a competitor and claim dominance over Wall Street (think Goldman Sachs). The stage is set for what could be a very smart drama, but the problem is that the movie falls short in several ways.

The plot goes from being a well-oiled machine portraying just how devastating the effects of a potential global meltdown could be (and the players involved who stand to profit off of it) to slowing down almost to a stop in the middle, and then devolving into an episode of Dawson's Creek in the final hour. Early on the hits just keep coming: stock prices tumble, firms go bankrupt, people lose a lot of money and some lose their lives. The frantic pace is mesmerizing, and then Gordon Gecko steps up (which you would think would just increase the breakneck pace), and most of the scenes are merely about him trying to reacquaint with his daughter. The scenes are slow, the emotions feel forced, the dialogue devolves into something of a bad romantic drama, and the movie feels entirely different from what you initially started watching. From then it drags on and on until a small plot twist threatens to actually bring back the movie you were enjoying watching, only to steal what little enjoyment you may have had away from you.

Michael Douglas is as good as always: Gordon Gecko remains every bit as charming yet razor-sharp and cutthroat as ever. The problem with this is that Shia LeBeouf, while showing much better acting chops this time around as compared with Transformers and Indiana Jones, is just not capable of acting on the level that Douglas is. Whenever Michael Douglas isn't on screen you're merely waiting until he is, since he's the Devil to Bud Fox or Jake Moore's Faust. I've never particularly cared much for Josh Brolin (though I did enjoy his role in "W."), and his part as Bretton James was largely forgettable. Either way, the acting was certainly "good enough," and deserving of a far better plot than the one it received.

If you're not into the sort of finance and/or corporate espionage style plotlines then I can't imagine that even the beginning of the movie would appeal to you (though I am, which might create a bias), but even people who work in finance (or those who hope to in the future) will still find themselves upset with the double identity that the film has.

At the very least I expected Michael Douglas to carry this film, but even he knew it wasn't worth the effort. The slow story line and overly predictable plot could not be saved by mediocre acting from the entire cast. Wall Street (2) felt like a Michael Bay drama without the explosions, attempt at suspense or obnoxious one liners.

Knowing this was more of a second parter to the Wall Street of the 1980's I may only see the film because Douglas still had acting abilities when I was born. Maybe it was my fault for assuming this film wasn't a drama, but with the title and even the trailer I would not have expected the film to be based around a broken family with a side of trust fund issues. I don't know even know what I expected in the first place.

Shia LaBeouf tries too hard to seem like a grown man when in reality he still portraying himself as the son of Indian Jones, (This is not a compliment) I found Josh Brolin to be exceedingly dull with his attempts of being a more adult Bruce Wayne.
I think this was part of my problem the whole films seemed like every actor was actually trying to be another actor. The only saving graces, Frank Langella who of course kills himself and Carey Mulligan possibly because she is the only major female role in the picture and is the only one to show any kind of real emotion.

If you saw Wall Street from 1987, stop there and let’s pretend that was the Wall street Oliver Stone produced. I'll see it eventually.