Movie Review: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Wall Street Trader Jake Moore is young, ambitious, and good at trading. His mentor Louis Zabel tries to warn him about the downturn of the global economy. Jake seeks out his fiance Winnie’s father, the infamous former Wall Street trader Gordon Gekko. When Jake’s mentor dies he is determined to find out what is behind his death and to reunite his fiance with her estranged father.
The first Wall Street was riveting, primarily due to Michael Douglas’s fine performance, Stone’s direction, and a top-notch script. Here Douglas again is the best thing in the movie but the script just doesn’t hold up well, probably because the focus is on young trader Jake Moore. Shia LaBeouf does a good job here, but LaBeouf lacked an edge to the character, something that may not have been defined in the screenplay. I’ve never been a big fan of LaBeouf but this is the best acting job I’ve seen him do. Carey Mulligan does good work here and adds some depth to an often thankless, sparsely written character. I think focusing more on the relationship between Gekko and his estranged daughter would have been an interesting way to go in the script.
The weak party here is the script, especially the final scene between Gekko, Jake, and Winnie, it seemed improbable to say the least. The real meat of the movie is watching the acting prowess of Douglas, Brolin, and Langella. Here you can see some fine work helped along by good direction from Stone. Langella is stunning in his brief role as a tortured Wall Street trader.
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is watchable but it doesn’t compare to the original. I’d suggest watching this movie primarily to see Douglas back in action, and Brolin and Langella’s performances.
2010. Directed by Oliver Stone. Starring Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan, Josh Brolin, and Frank Langella.
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