If a movie is a hit at the box office -- with great characters and an interesting storyline -- we can expect a sequel within two or three years. In this case, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps was 23 years in the making. It is worth the wait.
Original Wall Street (1987) director Oliver Stone oversees the sequel by blending great creative shots and screen eye-candy such as spilt screens, animation and graphics to the emphasizes points of the story.
The film is set in 2008 at the collapse of the financial market in the U.S. The story centers on Wall Street go-getter Jake Moore, played Shia LaBeouf (Transformers, Disturbia), who works for Keller Zebel, a well known Wall Street firm. One of the original founders of the firm and Jake’s mentor, Lou, played by Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), is under stress due to financial trouble the firm is experiencing.
After a heart-to-heart about the firm with Lou, Jake still believes in him and the firm. Lou goes to the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, to get financial help, but his effort is halted by Bretton James, played by Josh Brolin (W), who is at a rival firm. James offers to buy Lou’s firm at a bottom-basement price. Lou balks at the offer.
Jake is shaken with the news of Lou’s suicide by jumping in front of a subway car. His bright future is traveling into a long dark tunnel.
Jake’s world is not completely dark, as the light of his life is his girlfriend, Winnie, played by all-kinds-of-cute Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan (An Education). Winnie runs a popular political blog. On top of that, Winnie is Gordon Gekko’s estranged daughter.
This is a crucial twist in the story because this throws Gekko – the antagonist of Wall Street --into the mix. He is played by Michael Douglas, who won an Oscar for his 1987 performance. He may be up for another Oscar after his performance in this movie.
Gekko has been in prison for several years. There is a great scene with him getting his belongings back, especially a huge cell phone.
Months later, Gekko rebrands himself as an author with a book called “Is Greed Good?” He is speaking in front of students and is in the audience. After the speech, Jake forces himself upon Gekko by saying “ I am going to marry your daughter.” The two became fast friends. We learn that Gekko has not lost his Wall Street, shark-like sharpness as he gives Jake some advice on life and stocks while riding the subway.
Winnie warns Jake that her father will hurt both of them. Gekko proves her somewhat right. His actions indicate that prison did not give him a conscience.
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps offers a solid story with an unexpected twist and situations. The movie even features original protagonist Bud Fox, played by Charlie Sheen, in an interesting cameo with Gekko, who seems not to hold a grudge even though Fox helped bring him down.
The movie can leave the moviegoer confused with the Wall Street terms and jargon. Still, Wall Street: Money Never Sleep was worth the 23-year wait with a storyline that affected us all financially and offers the comeback of one cinema’s greatest villains (or heroes?) in Gekko, as well as featuring great characters who move the story.
One guarantee, you will not fall asleep in the theater and you may get a different respect for Wall Street and its much hidden world.
edited by Michele Ristich Gatts
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