Rogue Trader (1999)

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

If you're into stock trading and if you've read Nicholas Leeson, it might help you enjoy this movie. If you're not, you might need to view a couple of times before the story grows on you.I'm still not sure how I can summarize best the story for you: Ewan McGregor plays Nick Leeson, a stock trader for England's Fairbank is given a mission in New Delhi. He builds up a team with people who know nothing about stock trading and together they'll play with the Nikkei. As they're "playing", mistakes are made by Nick's team and he wants to cover them up by opening up an account called "88888". Soon, he'll start gambling with the bank's own money. Unfortunately, the losses grow bigger and bigger until the bank goes broke.Since there is no real action, and it's really told like a story and not like a movie, you really have to rely on the actors' skills to appreciate the movie.

When the movie was first out, Ewan MacGregor was a total unknown, until of course the Star Wars prequels came out. Then at the time stock markets was in the boom and the bust were, just something to be ignored. That was basically what happened when the movie was first out. This movie should mellow and get better reviews. At the time, it was therefore not well received, now many years later 2007. I have a chance to look and their risk control in derivatives trading were shockingly non existent and being in the stock market myself it is no wonder the Barings Bank get busted not as soon as they should. Lack of auditing, lack of controls, risk psychology, doubling up, and not learning from mistakes are all signs of absolute disaster. Learn from this movie, while not as funny as Trading Places, this is the story as close as a real bust might have occurred. A good learning experience, even if Nick Leeson is not learning his Lessons.

I don't know if Nick Leeson deserved this movie. A man who almost single-handedly made one of Britains big banks bankrupt couldn't be as "innocent" as portrayed in this movie? Or?I didn't know any of the details in the Barings Bank-bankrupcy. I think that helped me in enjoying this movie, because it was quite entertaining. I'm no expert in how trading takes place in the stock market and physically at the stock exchange either. I think that helped too, because I've heard from people who know a lot about it that the way this is portrayed in the movie isn't very realistic. But, as mentioned, I didn't have to worry about that.If you'd like a thriller about financial problems and crimes (a really small genre) I thing you'll enjoy this one. Normal people have no problem in understanding what's happening in the movie.

If like me, the S&L[1], insider trading, and Enron[2] scandals intrigue you, and you desire to see a dramatic and fairly factual treatment of what makes these things go bump in the night, then this is for you.It is not hard to figure out why The Great Financial scandals are overlooked by Hollywood. The tales are not only apt to get so bogged down by confusion and spin, but the threat of lawsuit and small box office[3] means the double whammy effect is on, so of course would never get greenlighted.As it stands, the makers of Rogue Trader give it the dramatic treatment it needs to please a high-finance numpty like myself, more interested in the drama of it all, and kept me interested to the end. It (thankfully) never bogged down in exposition, trying to explain the intricacy of it all. Deft.Playing fast and loose doesn't excuse Nick Leeson from being the sole agent of doom for Barings, and his crime is not molly-coddled here. You understand what propelled him. You also might find yourself wondering if the checks and balances which failed to catch his back room shenanigans are are also lacking here, in the over regulated and under staffed U.S. commissions (Helllooooo SEC!). Talk about scary!And to top it all, this film was in video stores long before Enron imploded.To sum up, quite a nice thriller, and not a chainsaw or Münch-mask in sight. Recommended.Dotacion1. Neil Bush could find himself in the limelight 2. As well his more powerful brother 3. Rogue Trader was not released theatrically in the states, to the best of my knowledge.