Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)

A few weeks ago, in my review of W. (2008), I accused Oliver Stone of being unfocused, and not quite knowing which direction he was trying to take the film. I have to say, and I'm sure many of you will disagree, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is Oliver Stone back on form. This was his first feature film since W, this got pretty panned on release, and it's main crime, from what I can tell, is that it was a sequel to Wall Street (1987). The first 45 minutes or so flew by, and everything that I loved about Wall Street is taken and applied to the current day stock market forms, where ticker tape flashes across screens, and people shout themselves horse into telephones. We're introduced to Shia LaBeouf's Jake, who is dating Gordon Gekko's daughter Winnie (the ever reliable Carey Mulligan). This comes after an opening in which Gekko is released from prison, after spending years behind bars for insider trading. Inevitably, the story comes around to focusing on Gekko's relationship-or lack thereof with his daughter, and using Jake's obsession with Wall Street to exchange information about Winnie. But despite forcing the angle upon us, Stone uses this triangle to great effect, balancing it with the struggles of Jake's company against stock mogul, Josh Brolin. While Martin Scorcese's The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013) gives us the debauchery of Wall Street and makes light of the damage it can do, Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, like its predecessor, approaches the human aspect of the lifestyle, albeit through the prism of a character we've known to be somewhat of a controversial figure in the past. But Stone uses that the best way he can, in seemingly turning Gekko into a pitiful figure at times, and because we aren't ever sure of what Gekko's end goal is, especially after years in prison, it makes Stone's return the character entirely justifiable, hugely entertaining, and a far better film than it had any right to be. 7.8/10