When it came out, I was in high school, planning on being a business major. I literally counted down the days until the film opened, and was there opening night. I loved the film.
Remember that scene in BOILER ROOM where Ben Affleck and his friends sat around watching WALL STREET and running the lines from it while watching it? That was my high school. I remember a gym class, during a volleyball game where all the guys were reciting the Gekko / Bud Fox beach phone call scene.
This was the end of the Reagan era and we all wanted to be Bud Fox. Forget the fact that the film was meant to be a cautionary tale, that Bud went to jail at the end. The life it showed was where we all wanted to be.
The problem with me came that, instead of loving the world, I began to just love the film. The way that Oliver Stone’s camera circled around Michael Douglas during some of the discussion scenes, I began to be more interested in filmmaking. While I went to college as a business finance major, I eventually switched over to Communications and Film.
Cut to twenty years later.
I didn't go into film. Lately, its gotten to the point that I haven’t even cared about films all that much. I haven’t been to one in over four months. And now the sequel, WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS opens.
To be honest, I thought of continuing my movie hiatus and waiting for Blu-Ray. The reviews haven’t been all that terrific to go out to the theatre.
But, with nothing better to do, I decide to go see it.
Gordon Gekko is out of jail. The trial dragged on for five years, and he ended up serving an eight year term. He has written a book “Is Greed Good” a cautionary tale of Wall Street Excess.
Shia LaBeouf is Jake Moore, a Bud Fox like trader who is engaged to Gekko’s estranged daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan). After hearing Gekko speak, Moore approaches him to introduce himself. With Moore’s trading bank taken down in the economic collapse, Moore wants Gekko’s help in going after the bank that he blames for the collapse.
This may not be a perfect film.
While Josh Brolin is very good as a rival trader, there is also a bit about how he and Gekko have a history. Umm, when WALL STREET came out, Brolin was only 19 and just a couple years from his appearing as the older brother in GOONIES. That would have been difficult.
Susan Sarandon also has a couple scenes as Jake’s mother, a house flipper in financial trouble. This seems to only be there to show the human side of the housing crisis and feels more like a deleted scene than anything else.
And I could kind of have done without the David Byrne soundtrack. Nothing against Mr. Byrne, but it just didn’t fit.
Getting that out of the way, I truly loved everything else about the film. It is my favorite film I have seen this year.
There is a scene early on where Frank Langella, as the head of a bank in financial trouble, pleading with the Federal Reserve for help that gives a better idea of what was really going on than you would know from just watching the nightly news.
Michael Douglas is fantastic. He is as good here as he was in the original.
Plus, there is a moment, I won’t give it away as I’ve seen no mention in any of the reviews, but I almost cheered when it happened. Loved it. Loved it. Loved it.
As I mentioned, the original was always a favorite of mine. So, my reaction may just be my own.
But if you loved the first film, this is truly a must see.
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