Wall Street: Money Never Sleep (2010)

A sequel to the 1987 original, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is a modern Oliver Stone film that fails to deliver the goods.

Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), is fresh out of prison, having been sent there at the end of the first film for insider trading and other financial misbehaviour, and is now looking to rebuild his fortune. He writes a book about his experiences, called “Is Greed Good?”, a play on words from his famous line in the first film, and when he is touring the book at a college he is approached by a boy called Jacob (Shia LaBouef). Jake, a young Wall Street mogul himself, is currently dating Gordon’s estranged daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan), and wants to reunite the two, whilst gaining useful advice about the stock markets from this legend.

Gekko and Jacob also join forces in bringing down a new foe in the world of trading, a man responsible for many atrocities in the financial world. But, as Jacob is soon to find out, nothing is black and white in the world of numbers, and in this modern age of recession and global economies, the real winners are those who survive.

From legendary director Oliver Stone, this film is a disappointment. Right from the start the characters speak in complex bank manager jargon about all kinds of financial trickery that you cannot understand, and only get the general gist. The characters are very un-likeable, apart from Winnie, whose angelic rejection of cash and greed is her central theme. The lives of these characters are un-relatable, they spend their days buying, selling, gaining cash from across the world, playing with figures that seem unimaginable to our humble eyes, and their reckless attitude towards anything important seems unrealistic.

Stone does make some relevant comments about our current economic situation, with regards to irresponsible banking, a fundamentally flawed way of life, and so much power in the hands of so few. But, alas, these social commentaries are nothing more than you would read in the daily newspaper, and that wouldn’t take you over two hours to find out. The film also tips the hat too many times at the first film, with a small cameo for Charlie Sheen out of nowhere! Not Winning.

Some of the stylistic camera work is impressive, and there are subtle choices that have been made to make the film feel very modern, but, altogether, the film seems to be trying to make a point we already know very well…we are all greedy, and does so in a lengthy, confusing and un-entertaining way.