Gekko Returns!

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – Oliver Stone

Gordon Gekko. One of the biggest characters ever produced in film. Bigger than Bruce Wayne, bigger than Hannibal Lector and even bigger than The Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter. Returning from Wall Street, Gekko comes alive again on our screens in the sequel, cleverly named Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Returning also to direct is Oliver Stone who brings together a great ensemble cast which supplements Michael Douglas acting really well with great names like Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan and Frank Langella. All of them bring their “A” game in a film that i never was interested to see but from the reviews and the subject matter drew me into seeing it. And i was blown away by flawless it is, it’s somewhat simple, it has a pace that never drops and never makes you feel like you could switch off, the acting is engaging, the style is beautiful too and you can see Stone really pulls it off. Having great actors like that bouncing off each other, it’s enjoyable to see a good script made to be another level above, it’s smooth, very smooth. The plot does have points where it dips, but i fully expected it to slow down, and with the subject matter it may bore people or it may be something new to others.

Beginning with Gekko coming out of jail in 2001 and then the film moves forward 7 years to show Shia and Carey as a couple with Shia being in investment banking in Wall Street where he seems to be a young hot shot who wants to bring unlimited and free energy to the world. His boss, Frank, loves Shia like a son and wants him to become the best he can be, and gives him a massive bonus to settle down and have kids with his girlfriend. Shia goes to buy a ring but sadly before he can propose, Frank commits suicide due to the stress of the financial downfall of his company and the embarrassment from the bailout of other banks. It seems suspect in how it went down and Shia goes on a rampage to find out who really did it, which caused his boss to kill himself. Along the way, we find out that Carey is Gekko’s daughter who hasn’t spoken in many years and through Shia, Gekko finds a way to talk to her again but it doesn’t seem quite right. It has some good twists and turns which you won’t see and Brolin’s turn as a rival investment bank owner is great too.

It’s a wonderful film with a great soundtrack, perfect directing and acting, it’s a really decent film, and it may surprise you.

8/10

Simon Childs