Review: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Film Reviews Mon, 25 Oct 2010 Written by Hiba Ganta
Editor rating
 
 3.0 User rating
 
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Film Review - Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Read triplew.me's review of the film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the sequel to the hit 80's film Wall Street, go  watch it via our Middle East cinema directory, and leave your own review.

The stock market loves none of her children.

The film begins with antihero Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) being released from prison with no one to greet him. Once a business mogul, now reduced to an unloved ex-convict – a shameful remainder of the once billionaire Gordon Gekko.

The subsequent dramatic story unfolds with Jacob Moore (Shia Lebouf) and his girlfriend/fiancée Winnie (Carey Mulligan) as the lead protagonists in this film.

Representing the eternal love of money, and its status as a lifestyle is LaBeouf's Jacob. Jacob Moore works at Keller Zabel Investments and in the first half hour, the sombre tone is set as managing director, Lewis Zabel (Frank Langella) Moore’s mentor, jumps in front of a train because his arch rival James Bretton (Josh Brolin) insults Zabel by offering to buy Keller Zabel stock at 3 dollars a share (against its 75 dollar trading value from a week prior) as it is refused a bailout by the Federal Reserve. Sound familiar? There's more than a passing reference to the 2007/08 Bear Stearns collapse in this one.

What ensues is Moore’s dramatic pursuit to uncover the truth (all done whilst looking Wall Street dapper) with the help of Gekko.

The trade-off is that Gekko’s help comes in return for Moore helping Gekko reconcile with his daughter Winnie.

But old habits die hard as in the end. We see the Gekko that once proclaimed "Greed is good" as he backstabs, betrays, steals, lies, and shows little remorse for his calculating, even with his own daughter.

This movie is serious, no doubt. But when Oliver Stone is directing, it’s definitely the kind of serious you hope all movies in this genre would be like. Ultimately it’s not about being street-smart, it's about knowing what to do when; it’s what you do when you’re faced with the two-pronged moral fork in the road, and what to do when you realize you perhaps didn’t choose the right road.

According to Gordon Gekko, “What, can’t you believe in a comeback?”

STARRING

Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan

DIRECTED BY

Oliver Stone

CHECK TO SEE IF IT'S PLAYING NEAR YOU

Bahrain - Bahrain Cinema
Lebanon - Empire; Grand
Jordan - Grand Cinemas
UAE - Grand Cinemas; Cinestar

 

Qatar - Qatar Cinema Company
Kuwait - Cinescape 
Egypt - Renaissance Cinemas
Oman - City Cinema

WATCH IT FOR

A return to form for Oliver Stone and a pretty good update to a 1980's classic - could've been worse!

MISS IT FOR

The all-too recent events of the Global Financial Crisis are still fresh in your mind...

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE

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Editor review

A good, sold movie

Rating:
 
 3.0
Reviewed by triplew.me
October 25, 2010
 
Last updated: October 25, 2010
This Wall Street is not quite engaging as the first, but is relevant as the world comes out of a massive, banking and broking led-recession. An engaging, but long, film it's worth a watch as we see a refreshed take on the excesses of the '80's re-emerging and with perhaps an even more worrying moral.
 
 

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