Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)

Michael Douglas has another go as Wall Street crook Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps" from 2010, directed by Oliver Stone. It's 2001, and Gordon has just been released from prison and has written a book. His daughter, Winnie (Carey Mulligan), who wants nothing to do with him, now runs a liberal website and is engaged to Jake Moore (Shia LeBoeuf), an ambitious broker. When Jake's boss and mentor takes his life thanks to rumors of his company failing started by Bretton James (Josh Brolin), Jake wants revenge. Gordon Gekko can possibly help him -- after all, James is an enemy of his as well. In return, Gekko wants a relationship with his daughter.Another big stock market crash, this one from 2008, serves as the background for this film, which crashes right along with the market. The acting is okay, but the story is derivative and predictable. At 133 minutes, it seems overly long, and Oliver Stone has done better work. Disappointing, as I'm sure many people were looking forward to this film after "Wall Street."

This movie seemed a little rushed to me, in a sense that as soon as the global financial crisis happened, Oliver Stone immediately sat down with his pen and began to write a movie based on the events, bringing characters from the original movie forward in time so that he may comment on the events of 2008. This is the first sequel Oliver Stone has written, and while it was not a bad movie, it did seem somewhat contrived to deal with the events of 2008.The original movie was meant to be a criticism of Wall Street, however it turned out that it was not taken as a criticism but as supporting the culture of Wall Street, particularly with sayings like 'for lack of a better word, greed is good.' However, in this film, the saying goes, 'where I originally said greed is good, now it seems to have become legal'.Gordon Gecko returns in this film, having been released from gaol penniless and with a collection of antique memorabilia from his high flying days back in the 80's. His daughter has grown up and she is now in a relationship with another young Wall Street up and comer. He works for a very old and venerable investment bank that suddenly finds itself under attack during a period of market volatility, and its share price is driven down so low that it makes it a bargain which is quickly snapped up. Jack Moore, the new hero of the story, smells a rat, especially since the owner commits suicide. However he needs the help of Gordon Gecko to get to the bottom of what is going on.Gecko appears to have changed through his time in prison, however in many cases it seems to be a façade which he uses to get himself back onto the rich list. He suggests that if he had $100 million then he could easily cash in on the crisis. However, there is also something human about him, which is what Moore uses to bring him over. There is also the idea that green energy is going to be the next bubble (it's not, rather two years on, I have noticed that it is the mining boom, at least here in Australia, that is driving the next bubble. With a number of small cap mining stocks making up to 1000% gains since July 2010 it goes to show that the green energy bubble has yet to materialise).The movie tries to explore the reasons behind the crash of 2008, trying to explore ideas such as Collateral Debt Obligations and the like, however I think a number of these areas are quite complicated, and in the end it was a rigged casino culture on Wall Street that sought to over inflate assets and false rumours to destroy one's rivals. Once again, it all comes back to bite the bad guy in the movie, though in real life that did not necessarily happen. It always comes down to a fall guy, and in the real crisis, that fall guy was Bernard Mardoff. Everybody else seemed to get away with their multi-million dollar bonuses.

This is the perfect example of a movie that could have been great, but was wasted by a very bad written plot, lack o rhythm and casting mistakes. Some points that make this movie unworthy seeing: Jake Moore is a very problematic and confusing character. First thing, Shia LaBeouf should never have got this role. I don't think he is a bad actor, but he just doesn't convince as bad ass stock trader making millions in bonuses. At some point, Bretton asks him if he is an environmentalist or a capitalist. That's a good question that should have been answered before writing the plot, not during the movie (and it's never answered anyway)Jake starts the movie angering for revenge against Bretton, than he gets a job from him, leaves revenge aside and tries to obtain money for a fusion energy project. When it doesn't come, he just scolds Bretton, quits the job (wouldn't it be smarter to keep it, since he wanted avengement?) and is back to retaliation again. Those sudden changes of attitude just make the movie boring and dull, it would have been much better if the screenwriters just picked a storyline and sustained it. Winnie Gekko is a real pain in the ass. She just moves around with that sorrowful face, weeping and complaining about everything. She doesn't' believe her father, than she forgives him, he robs her and is forgiven again in the end, just because he gives 100 million to that lousy fusion project (money that belonged to her in the first place!). Senseless and pokey, like everything else. The only thing that could have saved this movie is Michael Douglas, a magnificent actor whose talent was wasted by poor lines and a somehow displaced character in the plot. His interaction with Winnie is tedious to the bone, and every time I saw both of them in the screen I felt like using the fast-forward button. The scene were he speeches to the audience (and no actor is better at speeches than Michael) was ruined by lousy edition. Why didn't they just wrote some good lines and let him do his trick? What a waste. The movie is also full of inconsistencies: Bretton knows Jake hates him and blames him for the suicide of his mentor. Jake spreads false rumors in the market that gives him massive losses and what does he do? Sends some thugs to beat him? Burns him so he will never get another job? Punches him in the face? No! He gives him a job, so that he can have access to his business and squelch him up faster. Gordon Gekko turns 100mil in 1 billion in a few months after the 2008 crisis! The movie is full of graphical animations showing stock market numbers and a fusion power plant project, which, IMHO, are completely displaced in a Wall Street financial drama and would be more suitable in an action/science fiction movie. To finish, the scene that got me laughing hard: Jake tries to gain the sympathy of the Chinese tycoon by giving him… Johnny Walker Blue!!! He probably tossed it in the trash. All said, Wall Street: Money never sleeps is, considered on its own, just a bad and tedious movie. If compared to the original Wall Street, it's a disaster. Bad one, Oliver.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is a great movie with a really well thought out storyline and a very talented cast.I know a lot of people were disappointed by this movie compared to the original Wall Street,but I honestly preferred,because the other one had a very dark setting to it that I didn't like,a lot of people probably did,and I also preferred Gordon Gekko as as a person in this.It felt very different,because the first one really felt like a Sheen family movie,since Charlie Sheen is the main character and Martin Sheen plays a role in it as well,its completely different in this,although I was happy they gave Charlie Sheen a cameo as Bud Fox and lets us know what happened to him after the events of Wall Street.I was also really impressed with Shia LaBeouf,its the first time I could take him seriously as an actor.I really don't see what critics problem was with this movie,I really enjoyed it and feel people who enjoyed Wall Street will like this too,it takes place exactly where the first left off,and Michael Douglas is as good as ever.After he is released from prison,Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) meets up with the man who is going to marry his daughter,and also has similar business problems that Bud Fox had,Gordon helps him out with his own business skills.Meanwhile,Gordon try's to win back his daughters love.