WALL STREET
MONEY NEVER SLEEPS

Starring:
Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Eli Wallach, Susan Sarandon and Frank Langella

Director:
Oliver Stone

Running Time:
133 mins

Out to buy on Blu-Ray/DVD 31/01/11

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

After eight years in prison, Gordon Gecko (Douglas) returns to New York a changed man. It is 2008 and his book has become a best selling novel and one that predict an economic downturn of the likes that generation has never seen. With the brokers on Wall Street still making their million dollar plus bonuses, they seem oblivious to what is going on in the financial district of the Big Apple. For Jake Moore (LaBeouf) everything is going perfectly. A green energy trader, a big hitter at his Bank and the prodigy of CEO Louis Zabel (Langella), Jake’s world is shattered when his bank is the first to fall and his mentor and friend takes his own life. With the rest of the banks tearing his company apart, Jake discovers that Bretton James (Brolin) is the man behind the aggressive takeover and he sets out to bring the same down on him, with the help of Gordon Gecko.

Director Oliver Stone has always been a filmmaker that likes to ask questions of this audience but after twenty-three years is “Greed” still good?

Sequels have become the fabric of the Hollywood system but they usually arrive a few years after the original to keep up the audience momentum and interest. For Oliver Stone’s Oscar winning ‘Wall Street’, twenty-three years have past since he took us into the world of the New York financial district but now as the financial market goes into a meltdown, the filmmakers has another story to tell. The problem is that can he make the people who almost brought the World’s financial system to its knees sympathetic to an audience and can a character like Gordon Gecko rise again?

We catch up with Gordon Gecko after he is released from Federal Prison after an eight-year sentence. This is a very different world from his heyday in the late 80s and one that he needs to study. In 2008 in re-emerges with a book that predicts a financial meltdown of the current system and a world economic downturn like the world has not see in decades. The New York brokers are not seeing this however and Jake Moore is still chasing the money and pushing for finance for his alternative fuel company that could be the next economic boom market. The Banks however are and behind closed doors, the old institutions are deciding the fate of companies, jobs and in some cases lives. As the fall starts, the Banks reposition themselves to make the most money but when Jake’s company is the first to tall with a terrible cost, he sets out to bring down the people responsibly and there is only one person who can help him. Gordon Gecko. The story is in place and with all Oliver Stone films, the detail and the characters are key but can anyone have any empathy with the bankers and brokers that got the work into that financial mess?

As with all Oliver Stone pictures, the man has gathered together an impressive cast to bring the story to the screen. It is young talent that leads the line with two actors that are and have been box office draws. Shia LeBeouf continues to try and switch between huge blockbusters and more character driven pieces to show that he has some acting ability. The problem with him is whatever character he decides to take on it simply becomes another version of him, whether it be Kale from ‘Disturbia’, Mutt Williams from ‘Indiana Jones’, Sam Witwicky from the ‘Transformers’ or in this case Jake Moore, LeBeouf is just playing himself in a costume. The same cannot be said about young British actress Carey Mulligan who excels as Winnie Gecko, Gordon’s daughter who wants nothing to do with him after the way he treated his family. This is another standout role for the actress and one that shows she can provide the glamour as well as the girl next-door look. Josh Brolin reunites with Oliver Stone gain and provides the face of everything that is wrong with the current banking system and with Frank Langella, Eli Wallach and Susan Sarandon rounding up the star cast, there is only one person that needs an introduction.

Returning to the role that got him the Oscar, Michael Douglas’s Gordon Gecko is the driving force for the movie, even though he is not the main protagonist this time around. He, of course, is the highlight of the film with the audience asked to figure out his true motives, constantly asking questions about the characters pursuit of redemption or his fall back into his depths of greed.

Oliver Stone has two problems to overcome with ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’. Firstly can he explain the financial markets in a way that everyone without an economic, business or accountancy degree can understand and, most importantly, make brokers or anyone who worked in the financial sector in 2008 sympathetic? Unfortunately he fails on both accounts making his second trip into the New York financial district one that you really will not care about or understand, which is a shame as the cast and the performances deserve a lot more.

DVD Special features:
Digital Copy
Gordon Gekko is Back

Blu-ray Special features:
Digital Copy
Commentary By Director Oliver Stone
A Conversation with Oliver Stone
Money, Money, Money: The Rise and Fall of Wall Street
Gordon Gekko is Back
Deleted and Extended Scenes
Deleted and Extended Scenes - Commentary
Fox Movie Channel Presents
Theatrical Trailer
Teaser Trailer


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