WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS (includes trailer)
September 30th 2010 14:47
In an endless onslaught of remakes and unwanted sequels of films from yesteryear, director Oliver Stone (JFK, Heaven & Earth, Platoon) has decided to throw his hat in the ring with his sequel to Wall Street, titled Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Now to me this already sounds like trouble as the first film left no desire to have us further explore this world and it's characters, but under the unfortunate circumstances of the current economy, a 'Wall Street 2' probably seems more relevant than ever.
Money Never Sleeps is now the third film Oliver Stone has made on the latest hot topic of the moment. After his 9/11 film and Bush biopic W. - Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps indeed seemed inevitable. The character of Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas, was a seductively slimy, corporate raider who was embraced by film goers rather than loathed, as his catch phrase 'Greed Is Good' became a cultural mantra. Here Douglas reprises his Academy Award winning role as Gordon Gekko, as Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps picks up several years after where it's first film left off.
Gordon Gekko has been released from prison and his ambitions ignite as he leaves the prison gates with $1000 to his name, having to start all over again, but it's Gecko's daughter Winnie, played by Carey Mulligan, and her fiancé Jake Moore, played by Shia LaBeouf, who inherit Wall Street 2's central story line. Gekko feels like a shadowy presence lurking in the background of Wall Street 2's primary drama. We always feel him hovering over all of the film's events some how and this is very much credited to Douglas' presence who is back in one of his most well known roles. Michael Douglas is great here, you can tell that he loves playing this slithery role and he relishes his every line.
Set around the time of the post 9/11 housing loan crisis in the U.S. Jake Moore is a young, ambitious up and comer on Wall Street, with fiery drive and business smarts taking him right towards the the centre of the top finance companies. His fiance, Winnie, is the estranged daughter of his hero Gordon Gekko. When Jake's own mentor and boss, Louis Zabel (played by Frank Langella) is financially destroyed by business rival Bretton James, played by Josh Brolin, Jake turns to Gordon Gekko for Wall Street advice on how to get even, all behind Winnie's back.
In general, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps made an uneven impression on me, as it pulled together better in some places, than it did in others. In the eighties and nineties Oliver Stone made a career of directing controversial films (at least by studio standards) that had a hard hitting, frenzied style that viscerally clobbered you over the head with it's mixed bag of frantic camera work, eclectic media formats, stock footage and psychotic editing that often delivered a powerhouse effect when it was all angrily blended together. In the last decade Stone's films have become formal and restrained and the result is quite bland. I appreciated the subtlety of Stone's George Bush biopic 'W.', but in Wall Street 2 this watered down approach to story telling simply comes across as dispassionate. It looks, feels and sounds like a movie that could have been made by anyone. While there is a flicker of that old Oliver Stone vibe from time to time which flutters about cautiously and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto adds measured doses of energy, it's clear that Oliver Stone's sledge hammer style is a thing of the past.
The finest strength Wall Street 2 has going for it is Stone's assured confidence in dealing with the material. It helps if you are familiar with the financial and business world as well as the events in the U.S. that have shaped their economy since 9/11, but you're always able to follow the gist of the story. Stone keeps the audience in his grasp with engaging but uneven potency. He knows this material and world inside out and the result is an absorbing one. For the most part the film takes you into it's world decently but there are so many foul ups along the way that it ultimately feels like a disappointment.
While the seasoned actors in the cast add an almost aristocratic air to the film, the younger actors like LaBeouf and Mulligan fair poorly, giving one note performances at best. LaBeouf in particular seems out of his element here. Frank Langella brings an impressive emotional intensity to his part, Michael Douglas is on the money here, as well as Josh Brolin. Unfortunately Eli Wallach looks like he has one foot in the grave and croaks out his lines in a criminally awkward performance.
The biggest problem with Stone's directing is his handling of the emotional scenes involving the most rottenly executed moments of melodrama I've seen recently, where actors try to out-cry each other. Entire scenes sink from moments of emotional idiocy, more interested in hard selling the moment than exploring the characters in a remotely interesting way. It's as if Stone was so clueless in understanding the characters that he decided to hedge his bets and make everyone in the scene cry just to be safe. The final fifteen minutes of the film loses it's engaging quality and fizzles out, complete with a less than convincing ending. Wall Street 2 has a gift for delivering the facts, the figures and the events, it succeeds in striking swiftly and keeping us involved for the general duration - but as far as it's characters are concerned it stinks.
In abandoning his more visceral manic style, all of Oliver Stone's flaws as a film maker have been laid bare in an insipid puddle of generic mediocrity. Wall Street 2 has got some good things going for it. It revives a popular character that Michael Douglas plays with class and for the casual viewer it provides a cut throat, absorbing tale of wheeling, dealings and financial espionage, but for me the film had too many problems to make it a memorable success.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I am one of those who worshiped the original upon release so I do have a fascination with this sequel.
I do want to see this, but yours is one of many verdicts I have seen that deem the film average.My expectations are in check so i may be in for a pleasant surprise.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Not your writing, of course.
I'd much prefer to see a sequel to Salvador.
Well, not really, but you know what I mean.
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
BRYN - thanks, the sequel seems unwarranted really, it doesnt bring anything new to the table, but it's a not a bad film, it's just not a particuarly good one either.