Money Really Does Have Insomnia. But Is It Still Interesting Enough For Another Major Outing?

In 1987, a film by Oliver Stone shook up the way we looked at money and the stock market and made it seem that anything was possible. That with money comes power. That greed was good. Wall Street was a huge success for Stone, so why make a sequel? The answer is simple. Why not use one of the greatest financial collapses this world has ever seen and put it into a new movie staring some of the best actors on the planet. It worked once, why not show the country what really happened to the economy mainly in America. This is the backdrop of Wall Street 2:Money Never Sleeps and let me say we really were (and maybe still) in a lot of trouble. I have to admit this movie brought to light what happened in the most extreme case of financial problems this country has ever seen, but did it actually show us more than we already knew? Let me begin.

Wall Street 2 picks up 23 years later. Gordon Gecko (Michael Douglas) has been released from prison due   to insider stock trading (oops sorry I just ruined the first one for you, but geez when you see the preview it's kinda obvious) and is out to prove he still has it. Here is how it is going to happen. He is going to take on a new apprentice (Shia LeBouf) and make him do two things: find out why Shia's boss Louis Zabel (the magnificent Frank Langella) killed himself and the other to bring to light the economic downfall. Throw into the mix Gordon's daughter (Carey Mulligan) who is angry at her father for his abandonment and selfishness towards his family as well as Josh Brolin as the villain of the piece Brentton James who is one of the major players in the large investment banks (and could also be the reason Zabel killed himself) and  the man Gordon believes is responsible for his downfall and you have a talented group of actors bringing to life a character driven piece superbly directed by the fantastic Oliver Stone.

Oliver Stone in my book is a director who loves to push the envelope (see Nixon, W etc). But sometimes he brings to light facts that his public already knows and shoves it in your face even more (which can be kinda annoying). But the man is a great storyteller (as he writes most of his own movies) and sure knows his genre. With Wall Street 2 he is hitting the nail on the head. He knows how to make you feel all the emotions in the stock rooms. From the heart pounding of the stock market to the sad sense of failure for the people whose lives are going to suffer the most. The man gets the best out of his actors and I must mention all seem to embrace the characters that Oliver wants out of them.

However, many things upset me in this movie. All through the movie I was wanting for Michael Douglas to turn back into the Gecko we all know and love. This was bugging me a lot through the movie. The character you love to hate just wasn't there until I thought it was a bit too late. The other thing I couldn't stand was Mr Stone made his audience feel a little stupid. By having Susan Sarandon (completely under used) as a woman who was meant to be the stereotype of all the dumb Americans who saw a chance to make a quick buck by buying properties by the bucketload was easily not a suttle message. It was a clear slap in the face attack on Americans who this happened to. Yes we know this happened, but people already are regretting it and have paid the sacrifice you don't need to humiliate them any further.

The last thing that bothered me was the pace. This movie was way too long. Don't get me wrong it was a character driven piece so I wasn't expecting Arnie to fly out in an army tank blowing everyone away, but it could have been edited to be a bit quicker and many things left out, especially the last ten minutes which I felt destroyed the entire vision of who Gecko really was. Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed this movie, but coming out of the cinema I don't know if I felt like the director had made me feel like a complete idiot due to shoving the world's economic problems in my face for two hours and showing how dumb mankind really is when it comes to global finances.

All in all I didn't mind this movie, but it's successor really was at the top of its game. It surely had all the right ingredients to suppress it, but maybe if this movie had of come out a few years ago the world would have been a bit more aware and panicked, instead of feeling like been there, done that, time to move on already. In my mind Wall Street 2:Money Never Sleeps never lifted past average viewing. It felt like it had potential to rise in stock, but seem to come up short. 7/10