Thanks for checking out our Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Review

Genre: Drama
Directed by: Oliver Stone
Staring: Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Susan Sarandon
Released: Sept 24, 2010

THE GENERAL IDEA

THE GOOD

Seeing Michael Douglas naturally aging into the man that would be Gekko 23 years later was a treat. Douglas fits the role like an old shoe and all the memories that go with it. He is just as charming and seductive as he was in the original. He is still Gekko, but thankfully he is also Gekko-after-prison and actually evolves with the story instead of just showing up as if the first movie didn’t conclude.

And Shia LaBoeuf? I had hopes for him as an actor and I was not disappointed. While he seems to be attached to projects that earn him some mockery by association, Shia has stepped up his game and he deserves to be in this film. He earned it.

Brolin plays Bretton James, and he is a true product of the corruption and heartless business that the financial world has become. He is the reason for that corruption and very much the “enemy” giving a face to the issues this film addresses. Brolin plays the heartless banker so well he makes Gekko look far less intimidating.

Charlie Sheen makes a cameo appearance as Bud Fox, explaining where he has been for the last 23 years too, and it works well.

THE BAD

Carey Mulligan is wasted in this movie. It seems her only purpose here is to direct hate at Gekko and cry a lot to remind us he is evil. Honestly, if they didn’t have a love interest for Shia LaBoef, I don’t know that it would have mattered at all. She was just another part of his life that gets affected by his situation. He would be just as torn up if a baseball card left by his father was at risk. At least then they wouldn’t have spent all that time trying to convince me to care about his relationship.

There is some pacing issues and there are parts of the film that drag on. That and the forced “purpose” of the film. They couldn’t just make it about Gekko getting out of prison and finding a new way to impact the game he craves? No, they have to throw in some weepy romance, a father daughter redemption story. They could have done this without the obvious “this is why we are doing this” story.

OVERALL

This film will forever be measured against the original, and while Gekko was great to see again, he serves the same purpose in this film as he does in the original. Everyone remembers Wall Street as that Michael Douglas film where he plays Gordon Gekko. But in reality Gekko was a secondary character and the cause of the rise and justification of Bud Fox, and in this film - while its great to see him in his hardass Gekko form - Douglas is secondary.

It really doesn’t stack up to the original as far as impact, but is still a good film on its own, especially with the backdrop of the financial crisis.

I give Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps a 7 out of 10