Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps ****

As films to receive the sequel treatment go, Oliver Stone’s 1987 cult classic Wall Street never seemed like an obvious candidate. Yet now, twenty three years on (or this critic’s entire lifetime) – one of the longest gaps ever between a film and it sequel – the most unlikely of sequels is hitting cinema screens with an economic recession inflated bang.
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (the title coming from something Gordon Gekko said in the first film) has become one of the most buzzed about movies of 2010, with early reviews being so positive that they prompted studio 20th Century Fox to push back the film from its previous April release date all the way to October so that they could premiere it at the Cannes Film Festival – quite a show of confidence. This, however, has since turned out to be a big mistake on their part as evidenced by the film’s disappointing box office numbers in the states and the fact that the once great buzz has dissipated, the fantastic early reviews being replaced by considerably less favourable ones leading up to the film’s release. Given that, following his diagnosis with throat cancer, this film could well boast Michael Douglas’ last ever screen performance, one could certainly have expected a stronger box office reception. There again, while the central theme of the film is timely and poignant (and, allegedly, may have been ever more so had Stone been allowed to go forward with his original idea for the film, an idea which was deemed too unrealistic only to then happen in real life), given the current state of the economy, a film about Wall Street bankers is hardly the kind of escapism that moviegoers are seeking is it. Coming off a series of films that were not only box office failures but critical ones as well, Oliver Stone is in desperate need of a hit but is Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps it?

Disgraced financial titan Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) emerges from prison two decades after his ’80s downfall. Apart from the clothes on his back, his possessions amount to a silk handkerchief, a watch, a gold money clip “with no money in it” and a clunky, antique mobile phone. The world has changed in the meantime – it isn’t his anymore, for a start. But the man who famously stated that “Greed is good” knows that greed is still the name of the game – and on a bigger scale than ever before. Gekko goes on to become a minor celebrity as a writer, producing a book based on his experiences in the world of investment banking. Seven years after his release, he is approached by Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf), a young Wall Street trader who is planning to marry Gekko’s daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan). Jake’s interest in Gekko is far more than just personal though – Jake’s boss and mentor, aging Wall Street banker Louis Zabel (Frank Langella), has committed suicide following the collapse of his investment bank and the man responsible for that collapse is rival banker Bretton James (Josh Brolin), a man with whom Gekko has personal history. Out for revenge against James, Jake and Gekko form a sort of father-son relationship as Gekko helps Jake to enact revenge on James and also fulfil a financial promise he has made while in return Jake helps Gekko attempt to reconcile with his estranged daughter. But is Gekko really the changed man he seems to be or, as an economic disaster unlike any ever seen before looms, does he have an ulterior motive?

With Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Oliver Stone’s string of disappointments is finally at an end. This isn’t to say that the film is perfect as it still lacking much of the controversial edge that made many of Stone’s earlier movies so notorious and the ending is far too Hollywood, being soft rather than hard-hitting (the two things that stop this film from being as good as it could be), but by doing a follow-up to one of his most well remembered films he has made what is undoubtedly his best film in a long while. And, while there are some elements that will be meaningless to anyone who hasn’t seen the 1987 original – an excellent cameo appearance by Charlie Sheen reprising his role from the first film and a superb soundtrack mostly provided by Brian Eno and David Byrne of the Talking Heads, the same people who provided the music for the first film and whose song This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) features in both films, being the most prominent examples – this is largely a film that works just as well as a standalone movie as it does as a sequel, exactly what Stone intended. You probably wouldn’t expect a drama set around the world of investment banking to be a very engrossing one but you would be very wrong as this film delivers a storyline that proves truly compelling and, let down only by the all too happy closing scenes, entirely believable. The reason for this is the quality writing courtesy of Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff, with the two clearly having done lots of research and Loeb himself actually being a licensed stock broker in real life. It is clear that they really know what they are talking about as the plot not only rings almost entirely true to life – the fictional banks that feature are based on ones that really suffered during the recession, Zabel’s firm being based on Lehman Brothers while Churchill Schwartz is based on Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley – but the dialogue does as well with characters spouting stockbroker lingo all over the place, something that makes everything seem all the more authentic and it is a testament to the strength of the writing that far from making it impossible for the average viewer to follow what is going on – in real life the lingo is seemingly designed to be confusing to anyone but those working in investment banking – we can actually follow what is going on with considerable ease and in a way that never makes the film feel as though it is pandering to us non-banker types in any way. The film portrays the complex world of investment banking exactly as it is in the real world, the hustle and bustle of the stock exchange being portrayed in every aspect, with entire scenes set in the busy interiors of the banks that feature so prominently throughout, sweeping shots of New York City (that make a real change to the generic shots of the city that we are used to seeing) creating a real sense of the power that Wall Street holds in the economic world, effective and heavily stylized editing adding to the effect of how fast moving and kinetic the investment banking business is and stylish animations delivering economic statistics in a way that make a degree of sense to those of us who don’t understand banking – i.e. most of us – and presenting them in a non boring way. The film shows you the side of the economy that you don’t normally get to see and it is pretty interesting stuff, the film not being an engaging drama but also a very topical and poignant one that has lots to the say about the state of the economy in real life – some major points being that we are all part of the very system portrayed in this film whether we like it or not and the villains always manage to be hailed as heroes, as evidenced by the way people view Gekko in this film. Not only that but the film also boasts plenty of great character moments. Regardless of whether you have seen the first film or not, you will find that the characters are all thoroughly developed and truly realistic, no one really being all good or all bad but rather shades of grey, just as it is in the real world. Excellent writing is a key factor in this but just as important, probably more so, is the performances and the entire cast is faultless. Despite not appearing as you might expect – after the opening scene of him getting out of prison, Gekko doesn’t feature for quite a while – Michael Douglas nonetheless steals the show as Gordon Gekko, with a performance that makes it hard to gauge whether he is really is a changed man or the same man we saw in the first film as he effortlessly shifts between slick, suave and cunning and emotionally damaged, convincing in all the guises his character pulls off. The result is a truly well rounded and multi layered character who we can both loathe and feel sympathy for at the same time. As uncertain as we are about Gekko, however, he is not the true villain this time – that title goes instead to Josh Brolin who, as the equally slick and infinitely more greedy Bretton James, makes a for a bad guy even more scheming than Gekko, although nowhere near as memorable, if only because he is painted as a bad man from the start, lacking the extra dimension that Gekko is awarded here. As for the ‘hero’ of the film, that title of course goes to Shia LaBeouf and anyone who has doubted his acting abilities before now should doubt no more. Here, LaBeouf shows that he really can act with an intense and believable performance and strong chemistry with all his co-stars, whether it is one of love for Winnie – Carey Mulligan, in her first Hollywood role after being nominated for an Oscar and winning a BAFTA for her role in An Education, is superb in her own right as well – loathing for Bretton James, both respect and disgust (at different points in the film) for Gordon Gekko, protégély admiration for Louis Zabel – Frank Langella’s role is relatively brief but very tragic, representing the human cost of economic collapse – or dutily support for his struggling real estate mother – played by an underused Susan Sarandon. There are lots of other great performances as well, in particular Eli Wallach as one of Bretton James’ fellow bankers. All in all, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps a very interesting and insightful drama that shows the inner workings of Wall Street is a manner that is coherent and engaging without ever being dull and while it has shortcomings that prevent it from being truly great, it nonetheless stands a major return to form for Oliver Stone, whose direction here is near perfect with the visuals being stylish and classy and the screenplay by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff being just as much so. Not just an enjoyable piece of cinema but also a poignant one I will leave you by quoting Gekko: “I once said Greed is good. Now it seems it’s legal.” Never has the economy been described more effectively.

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Review by Robert Mann BA (Hons)

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