Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

"You stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling truth bout you..." First and foremost, I would like to admire the patience of stone for keepin... read more

"You stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling truth bout you..." First and foremost, I would like to admire the patience of stone for keeping this sequel at hold for 23 years. Have to say it was a judicious decision! In 1987 Stone released his first edition of Wall Street, when the world was undergoing huge economic crisis. He revealed the inside stories of stock markets as well as Stock Brokers. Michael Douglas or better known as Gordon Gekko (an unethical investor) who said in the first part "Greed is Good", is back with same character but this time with the question "Is greed good?"

Stones first version inspired people to become Gekko and the outcome was 2008 recession. To discover the actual cause and consequences of this crisis, Oliver Stone revives Gekko in his 2010 edition Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

In this one we see Gekko being released after completing 8 years of imprisonment and stepping into the world once again in 2008. He has lost almost everything; his family, wealth, assets but still is having a huge fan following even in the new era. Gekko becomes a mentor for Jacob Moore (Shia LaBeouf) an extremely well-established broker who lives with Winnie (Carey Mulligan); Gekko's daughter. Jake is portrayed as young, dynamic and greedy investor who is presently endeavoring to earn wealth by investing in green energy. Owing to Gekko's sharp sense and years of experience he was able to smell the upcoming threat of downturn. He tries ringing the warning bells in the ears of Wall Street but due his past criminal records nobody listens to him.

You will even find Gekko trying to re-build his relationship with his daughter Winnie, who always blamed him for her brothers suicide. "The scene where Gekko beg in front of Winnie for a second chance as a father is shot beautifully. It will get etched in your mind."

To my surprise Gordon Gekko was not the main focus of this edition. This one is more of compelling drama of muddled relationships and corporate downsizing. The way Oliver Stone monitored every move minutely and then got it on screen deserves a big thumps up. To support his effort we have the team of great actors giving outstanding performances. The only place where the movie falls apart is its climax, which was under-developed according to me. Due to that the viewers will definitely lose interest and will find the movie unfinished.

You will get to discover the importance of renewable energy, the consequences of blindly running behind money, the complexities of broken relationships, reasons behind Global Financial Crisis and off course the role of media in our lives.

Final Verdict: Good watch especially for corporate world and others should only go for some power-packed performances as well as great background score.
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Director Oliver Stones follow-up to his gritty 1987 critical and commercial hit, 'Wall Street' is quite a fascinating beast to behold albeit only i... read more

Director Oliver Stones follow-up to his gritty 1987 critical and commercial hit, 'Wall Street' is quite a fascinating beast to behold albeit only in parts. Overall it lacks the same vicious bite that the original had when creating a bridge between audiences and a financial world that was being stripped of its glamor before them for them to behold it in all its naked ugliness. In current times however, the world is well aware of this ugliness thanks to an overzealous media and somehow even the recent scams when exposed onscreen hold little in terms of shock-value. The one thing that works very well in the movies favor is the human factor.

The players behind the scenes and individual characters give such convincing performances that you'd rarely doubt their intentions or psyche. Not to say that this movies some sort of documentary about the 2008 global stock-market meltdown but it tries hard to dramatize the events while juggling plenty of sub-plots and themes at the same time.

The plot kicks off in the year 2001 where Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) is released from prison. It then jumps to the year 2008 where Jake (Shia LaBeouf), a young banker in an old firm headed by Louis Zabel (Frank Langella) is an up & rising star. Hes blissfully unaware of the looming financial meltdown about to hit American markets first and then the rest of the world. When it does begin, Louis's firm is the first to get hit and he takes it pretty hard. Jake tries to extract revenge from a rival, Bretton James (Josh Brolin), whom he believes to be responsible for it all. Jake's also in a live-in relationship with Gekko's estranged daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan). How Jake goes about trying to extract revenge from Bretton with help from Gordon while at the same time trying to mend bridges between Gordon and his daughter forms the crux of the tale.

The first half of the movies especially loaded with technical jargon that most of the time ended up flying right over my head. However Gordon Gekko's lecture was quite the opposite and other than being enjoyable was also immensely entertaining. Like I mentioned before, the frailties in us as human beings and our constant desire for more is again the most fascinating aspect of the tale. The ability of people and institutions to take action without thought to repercussions and consequences is in form an eye-opener and a warning to not allow something like this to happen again. Yet we are all so mixed with the system that its difficult to pull ourselves out. The movie might be morally very judgmental and not very subtle but Oliver Stone like always drives home his point about greed perfectly.

The acting by the entire cast is simply flawless. Michael Douglas is still the charming yet immensely cunning Gordon Gekko we saw 23 years ago. Some of his lines are simply to die for, especially a line about 'bulls, bears and pigs', even though picked from someone else, is still is assured to put a wicked smile on you face. Eli Wallach similarly has a priceless little monologue about the impending financial meltdown and how everything would be affected.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps has good intentions and an ambitious plot that works brilliantly in parts. The acting & characterizations make up for the unfocused narrative and loose plot-threads left in the weak climax. Though it doesn't touch the lofty heights of the original it still manages to stand firm on its own strength.

Gordon might say Greed is good, I'd say Oliver Stone makes it look ugly like never before.

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Michael Douglas and Oliver Stone is back with the sequel to their 1987 hit- Wall Street. Douglas re-enacts the role of a Stock Market Guru, immorta... read more

Michael Douglas and Oliver Stone is back with the sequel to their 1987 hit- Wall Street. Douglas re-enacts the role of a Stock Market Guru, immortalized by him in the prequel. Though for some, he himself is enough a reason to watch a film; still the story, screenplay and support star-cast plays a huge role in deciding the fate of a movie. Since the terms like stocks, shares, investments, bankruptcy etc were used in full frontal for the original version, it remains to see what new is in store for the cinema-goers this time around, just after cash crunch situation aka 'Recession'.

Wall Street-2 kicks off with Michael Douglas being released from the jail, with few unfinished business in his mind. Director Oliver Stone and Douglas manages to take their joint-mantra "Greed is Good" to a completely different level with an another winner- "Money never sleeps". Even in his age and ongoing ordeal, ailing Douglas is like a fresh breath of air; you might love every bit of it, whenever he is in the frame. Younger duo of Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan does complete justice to their respective job. Josh Brolin was decent, Eli Wallach unusually funny and Frank Langella terrific in miniscule role.

The story needed few more polish-coatings and screenplay, couple of proof readings. The length of the movie and slow pace are few of the other drawbacks. If the romantic liaisons of the lead couple were cute, then father-daughter's love-hate relationship -was heart-warming. Oliver Stone pumps oxygen into intermittent-lifeless script with his finest craftsmanship; Bollywood-sque emotional climax could have been avoided, though.

Maverick Verdict: Wall Street- Money Never Sleeps could be watched for Michael Douglas and his immaculate one-liners. If you are not too accustomed to the functioning of Stock-market and Businesses, then understanding the proceedings might be bit difficult. Inspite of that, a tryst with 'Gekko' deserves a 'Dekko'. May God help this talented veteran to recover from deadly disease and let him STAY IN PEACE!!! view less

"Insanity is when you do the same mistake again and again" says Shia LaBeouf's voice over. Money Never sleeps is a rare sequel that has come up 23 ... read more

"Insanity is when you do the same mistake again and again" says Shia LaBeouf's voice over. Money Never sleeps is a rare sequel that has come up 23 years later. The original Wall Street released in 1987 and earned Michael Douglas an academy award. The movie is based on the 2008 global economic meltdown and starts of really well. It loses some steam mid way though and ends in a tad disappointing way.

The plot primarily revolves around its two main characters. Gordon Gekko (Douglas) has been released from jail and is now the author of a novel on human greed for money. Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf) plays a young smart trader with the same ambitious gleam in his eyes to become rich akin to that of Gekko. Jake is about to marry his girl friend who happens to be Gekkos daughter. When the economic turmoil of 2008 hits the markets, Jake's mentor at Keller-Zabel commits suicide. Jake blames his rival Bretton James (Josh Brolin) as the one to spread the rumors of Keller-Zabel's failures and making those rumors come true. In seeking his vengance he runs into Gekko and decides to take down Bretton James and his company with Gekko's advice. But theres a twist in the tale.

Performance wise Michael Douglas pulls off Gordon Gekko with ease. The role suited him like a glove. Shia LaBeouf was a surprise. He looked mature and believable in the movie. One of his finest performances for sure. Josh Brolin was a good villain. Carey Mulligan had the same crying face for the whole movie. She also must have shed a bucketfull of tears. Oliver Stone does a good job in captaining the ship to begin with but the movie falls away in the second half.

Overall the movie has some fine performances but at the same time it would not harm you if you catch it on DVD.

Rating: Wait for the DVD unless you are a Douglas fan. view less

Internal bias: I go into a zombie zone when I see or hear anything with numbers in it. Finance turns me off.Jake, the young idealistic trader asks ... read more

Internal bias: I go into a zombie zone when I see or hear anything with numbers in it. Finance turns me off.

Jake, the young idealistic trader asks Bretton James, the man who he thinks drove his boss and mentor Louis Zabel to suicide by abetting in his bank collapse, What is your number? The one that will make you walk away from it all? And Bretton replies More.

This sums up the greed that drives the worlds financial markets which led to the great financial crises of 2008 against which this movie is set. The movie begins with Gordon Gekko getting out of jail after spending 8 years for insider trading and manipulation of markets-a personless crime according to him which did not merit that magnitude of punishment. He has written a book while in prison on whether greed is actually good as he had proclaimed in his earlier avatar as a hot shot equity trader. His premise in the book is that the financial world is set for a melt down because of excess greed. He explains this theory in a brilliant lecture which is a good crash course on the 2008 crises for those like me. The story is centered around Jake(Shia le Boeuf) who also happens to be Gekkos daughter Winnies fianc.

The movie is not sure what story it wants to tell the one on Gekkos return to the markets, his relationship with his daughter, the financial crises or a love story. There is a little bit of all of these but they dont get braided into a nice tight well oiled plait which should gleam and sway when the movie moves. There are bits that sag and go slow and that made the movie feel longer than its two hours. But then maybe that was because of the financial stuff being bandied around that I am sure bankers and finance types will find interesting. (The theater was full of those).

The screen play is crackling with one liners sprinkled throughout the movie. Shia le Bouef as the young idealistic trader looks the part and he and Carey Mulligan make a sweet couple. Josh Brolin as Bretton James looks the suave banker that he plays. Michael Douglas reprises his role as Gordon Gekko with relish. The slicked back hair, the sharp suits and the hard glint in his eye are intact. What he adds is a softer sentimentality of an older man and it sits on him well. He keeps us guessing till the end on his real motivations and desires for the things he does.

I just wish the movie was a bit tighter and took up any one of its threads in greater detail. Jakes character was also a bit confused as he moves from wanting revenge for the death of his mentor, to switching jobs to using his girlfriend for his own ends . But then as Gekko says, after all I am human and so are the others in the movie. I must mention , Susan Sarandon in a tiny two scene role as Jakes mother looks fabulous.

An interesting watch, one for the easy lesson on the financial crises that hit the world, two for some great action, three for the lovely shots of NY that made me want to be there and four, if you want to see how the Gordon Gekkos of the world keep coming back, only in different forms. Also watch out for the references to India. We have our place in the world financial markets, CWG notwithstanding
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