Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)(DVD) Directed by Oliver Stone (Platoon (1986), Natural Born Killers (1994), W. (2008)), starring Michael Douglas (The China Syndrome (1979), Wall Street (1987), King of California (2007)), Shia LaBeouf (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2010), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men (2007), W. (2008), True Grit (2010)), Carey Mulligan (An Education (2009), Never Let Me Go (2010)) and others. Whatever else may be said about Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the sequel, 23 years later of the award-winning Wall Street (for which Michael Douglas won the Oscar for Best Actor), it must first be said that Michael Douglas, as a post-prison Gordon Gekko, is really very good. Of course, having said that, there is not a great deal more to be said for the film, except that, given the 2008 crisis (and its never-ending implications) it treats a subject that must be treated.
Oliver Stone’s direction, however, lacks consistent punch, Shia LaBeouf, as Jacob Moore, is flat, at best, Carey Mulligan, as his fiancee, Winnie Gekko, is rather ridiculous, Josh Brolin, as the evil Bretton James, is passable, though the story, as a whole, and in many of its parts, is poorly written, regarding motivation, character development, and dialogue.
After all that, is it worth watching? Yes, for Douglas’s acting, and to remind oneself, if necessary, of the ill beast that Wall Street and banking have come to be. (PR)
See our posts on The Game (starring Michael Douglas), No Country for Old Men (starring Josh Brolin) and An Education (with Carey Mulligan).
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