Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Movie Review, Rating

When you’re watching an Oliver Stone film, you’re never really watching just a film. The maverick Hollywood veteran makes it his mission to stuff into each project a few moral science chapters too, riding on popular socio- political prejudice of the hour. In essence, you get several extra- feature subtexts in the packet.


Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps , sequel to the director’s 1987 cult hit Wall Street , retains the Stone syndrome. As an entertainer the new film brings back fundamental mainstream drama quotients from the original — flawed hero, near- perfect villain and cerebral teasers very much in place.

There’s also the expected line on hunger for success and wealth creating plastic economic booms.

But Stone here has also made a very political film. It mocks at the failures of America’s foreign policy that, going by his take, led to global recession.

The recipe of course would remain incomplete without stock melodrama.

The protégé- father figure undercurrent is once again played up to strike an emotional pitch like in the first film. What you get is a fine entertainer that softly does its preaching along the way.

To appreciate Stone’s new film, one needs to have a fair understanding of Gordon Gekko, one of Hollywood’s most glorious villains as played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 original. In that film the ruthless Gekko uses an over- ambitious stockbroker ( Charlie Sheen) for illegal gains, only to fall in his own trap.

The sequel opens some time after Gekko has been released from prison. He is on a comeback trail as a speaker and author. His estranged daughter Winnie ( Carey Mulligan) loves a young stock analyst, Jake ( Shia LaBeouf). When Jake’s boss is professionally finished by a Wall Street shark, Bretton James ( Josh Brolin), the guy plots revenge. He needs Gekko’s help to bring down James. In return he’s willing to broker peace between Gekko and his daughter.

The film takes some time to get going. Indeed, the first 45 minutes or so seem baffling with the various sub plots setting in all at once, somewhat convoluting the narrative. It’s a talkative film too, heavy on dialogues all along. And Jake’s revenge track could seem a tad too complex if you’re not exactly a big one on money matters.

Stone’s biggest achievement in Wall Street 2 doesn’t lie as much in reviving a 23- year- old saga as it does in eliciting some fine performances. This is Shia LaBeouf’s best act since Disturbia . The actor proves he is worth more than just posing as teenybopper eye candy in the Transformer flicks. On Douglas, what did you expect? Retaining Gekko’s wise, witty charisma, he is still a showstealer at 67, despite being a prop.

The fun bits in the casting though are the cameos. Susan Sarandon as Jake’s moody mom is one. And watch out for a highlight scene where Gekko has a verbal joust with Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox, his nemesis in the first film.

Rating - 3 / 5