Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

A Disappointing Continuation

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

I anxiously had awaited the completion of this film for years, only to come away wondering what happened. The original Wall Street was one of the most engrossing movies I have ever seen; this was one of the least.The entire film was horribly miscast. Shia LeBouf is hardly the epitome of a Wall Street corporate raider and definitely not threatening. Michael Douglas' role was grotesquely muted and not what I had hoped for...or expected from Oliver Stone. The only character who seemed to be properly cast was James Brolin.The plot was thin and underdeveloped. Of course, I am comparing it to the original Wall Street which may be unfair. Like most sequels, this one largely disappointed and under delivered. I felt it was one of Oliver Stone's poorest films to date.At least Michael Douglas has a handful of good quotes to remember.

Michael Douglas has another go as Wall Street crook Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps" from 2010, directed by Oliver Stone. It's 2001, and Gordon has just been released from prison and has written a book. His daughter, Winnie (Carey Mulligan), who wants nothing to do with him, now runs a liberal website and is engaged to Jake Moore (Shia LeBoeuf), an ambitious broker. When Jake's boss and mentor takes his life thanks to rumors of his company failing started by Bretton James (Josh Brolin), Jake wants revenge. Gordon Gekko can possibly help him -- after all, James is an enemy of his as well. In return, Gekko wants a relationship with his daughter.Another big stock market crash, this one from 2008, serves as the background for this film, which crashes right along with the market. The acting is okay, but the story is derivative and predictable. At 133 minutes, it seems overly long, and Oliver Stone has done better work. Disappointing, as I'm sure many people were looking forward to this film after "Wall Street."

Did we need another Wall Street movie? The story seemed to be closed-and-shut at the end of Oliver Stone's 1987 film as Gordon Gecko gives his big credo - "Greed is Good - Greed is Right" - and is carted off to prison for insider trading. Logically, one might think that because of the financial clusterf**k two years ago where everything went to hell until the government pulled its bail-out, its just the right time for one, to give a 21st century update with Gecko when insider trading is so... 1987. It is logical, but the question becomes 'does the movie work'? Yes and no. It's a sequel that tries to make its own story without involving too much of the previous film's material outside its iconic character (Charlie Sheen makes an almost thankless cameo as Bud Foxx, and we find out what *other* stuff Gecko did to have him get eight years in prison). But after the set-up of the story, about how Jake Moore (Shai LaBeouf), dating Gecko's daughter (Carey Mulligan) is a wall street trader who connects with the elder Gecko after Jake's mentor kills himself over the financial crisis at the firm he runs, and thus the seeds of revenge are sewn for Jake against sneaky "Pig" Bretton James (Josh Brolin), it turns into a Hollywood drama. By this I mean not really an Oliver Stone drama that one looks forward to from his days doing them well in the 80s and 90's (maybe not so much in the 00's). Without spoiling too much, the results of the drama in the story turn out to be a little too neat and tidy, and shockingly, considering how much the original Wall Street took chances and made one think about the financial mishaps downtown NYC was doing at the time, how it doesn't really take the bull by the horns and make the financial meltdown seem *that* important. More than that, it feels like Stone and his writers use the big financial meltdown as a plot point more than something to leap off of as something important. And unlike a documentary coming out this month like Inside Job, you won't really learn much about what happened with Wall Street and the financial crisis, except "hey, we're money people, we're in trouble, we can't let it "sleep", better get a bail-out." I'm not expecting too heavy a history lesson, but like with Stone's recent W., it combs over anything really revelatory to get back to the formula of the story.So why is this worthwhile? Simple: the acting here, the cast assembled, and how restrained Stone's direction is - that is when he's not going nuts with sprawling stock-numbers super-imposed over the city - makes for very compelling viewing. If it feels slightly stale and expected how it turns out in terms of the story points, right down to the Freudian daughter-father thing with Gecko, Jake and her father, the actors breathe a lot of life into the conflicts and make it believable. LaBeeouf especially is given a really meaty role here dramatically, where he has to show his chops instead of surrounded by overwhelming special effects. His Jake is smart but emotional, impressionable and determined, a kind of nouveau Bud Fox who has his passion project to fund (the one issue that is pounded away here, maybe even *more* than the economy in Wall Street 2, is alternative energy), and he plays off very well with Carey Mulligan, who gives some depth to a girl who seems straightforward: "I'm a liberal gal whose distanced myself from my father following my brother's overdose-death that is my FATHER's fault." For a character who should only be halfway sympathetic, she's filled with pathos and has a wonderful scene with her father on the steps in reconciliation.Oh, and Michael Douglas. If only he were here in every scene it would be a must-see... then again, maybe not. Maybe Stone is wise to bring Douglas in as the big scene-stealer, because he really is, one of the great ones as a character. And damn if Douglas doesn't deliver again on a character who is wicked but inviting, seductive but practical, witty but not insufferable, and has that snake-like charm that could draw in a tax collector into his grasp. Every moment with him is just about perfect, even when he's put into some of the expected beats of the last reel. Other actors like Frank Langella (for how brief he's there he makes his mark), Josh Brolin, Eli Wallach, they all contribute to making it at least watchable and fun; you want to see what the actors, more than the story, will do next with the turns it takes. And maybe the cast will be enough, and some of the dramatic situations and how they're staged without fuss will bring in audiences. I was certainly sucked in more, without the kind of distractions of Stone's most recent output by pablum (WTC), misdirection (W.) or being just overloaded (Alexander). Ironically when Stone brought in some of his wacky visual schematics for the stocks floating over the city and split-screens and the animation of the alternative-energy examples, don't work to the same wild effect that Stone used to pull off. Maybe he's getting too old for this s**t. But, thankfully, he knows how to direct actors very well, or just how to assemble them, and if one sticks to that point Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is enjoyable and, oddly enough, escapist entertainment. You'll almost forget how screwed the country still is at the end of the movie. Almost, though not quite.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is a great movie with a really well thought out storyline and a very talented cast.I know a lot of people were disappointed by this movie compared to the original Wall Street,but I honestly preferred,because the other one had a very dark setting to it that I didn't like,a lot of people probably did,and I also preferred Gordon Gekko as as a person in this.It felt very different,because the first one really felt like a Sheen family movie,since Charlie Sheen is the main character and Martin Sheen plays a role in it as well,its completely different in this,although I was happy they gave Charlie Sheen a cameo as Bud Fox and lets us know what happened to him after the events of Wall Street.I was also really impressed with Shia LaBeouf,its the first time I could take him seriously as an actor.I really don't see what critics problem was with this movie,I really enjoyed it and feel people who enjoyed Wall Street will like this too,it takes place exactly where the first left off,and Michael Douglas is as good as ever.After he is released from prison,Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) meets up with the man who is going to marry his daughter,and also has similar business problems that Bud Fox had,Gordon helps him out with his own business skills.Meanwhile,Gordon try's to win back his daughters love.