Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Review

Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps Review

The original Wall Street was a masterclass in creating a persona of a character. It worked well in it's times and showed a world that most wouldn't think could be so interesting. Oliver Stoner's (W) followed up; Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps appeared on a poster to be aiming to be as tough as the original, boy was a surprised. Wall Street 2 was nothing like what i expected, not all in a bad way though.

Let's set something straight here Shia LaBeouf's (Transformers 2) character Jake Moore is the lead story here. The trailer is rather misleading and so is the films posters. Michael Douglas (Solitary Man) does returns as the unforgettable character of Gordon Gecko from the original Wall Street. But the fact is other than the set up at the start, he isn't seen until about 30-40 minutes into the film there after. Also if i was to estimate how much screen time Michael Douglas has here id then go with about the same figures, for a two and half hour film.

Jake Moore is a Wall Street guy, but also a bit of a green thumb. Jake is investing a lot into other uses of creating energy with a profound Professor. The young eager Wall Street man is also dating the legendary Gordon Geckos daughter Winnie; played by Carey Mulligan (Brothers.) After Jake's mentor is driven to suicide by top Wall Street man Bretton James; played by Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men.) Jake seeks out Gordon Gecko is hopes of his reputation being able to help him seek revenge.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps feels a lot like two movies, on one side you have the Wall Street stuff and a story of revenge. The other side involves a love triangle of sorts with Jake, Gordon and Winnie. The Wall Street stuff isn't as intriguing as in the original because the lead character just doesn't feel as keen. It also is a lot more technical here than the first thankfully whatever you can't follow is easily fixed with the actors portrayal on screen. Simply putting it; if you don't know whats going check to see if Jakes happy or not, happy is good, not is bad.

The love story with Jake and Winnie is believable emotionally to a point, but i still couldn't figure out why Winnie would date a Wall Street guy if she hates her dad.

All of the acting is fine around the board even if some scenes are stronger than others. Michael Douglas gives a still fantastic performance as Gecko even if the character doesn't feel so strong in the writing. Josh Brolin gives the best performance all round though, with a somewhat menacing performance as Bretton.

Michael Douglas performs some well delivered scenes, one specially memorable is at a speaking at a college. The problem with the scene and a lot of the movie was the editing, horrible constant fading in and out was used in this scene and an overuse of split screen and fades all through out the movie takes you out the atmosphere. Olive Stone seemed to want to spark up this movie as it's twenty years after the first. The idea could of worked but turned out like a little kid went crazy over some scenes. Fortunately the cinematography is very good and makes the more annoying scenes something nicer.

Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps is nothing what you'll be expecting, it doesn't have the personality of the original or the bite but it still has interesting character none the less. Fan's of the original might or might not enjoy this depending on their mindset when entering this film. It's still an enjoyable movie, if you don't watch it comparably to the original. Still fans might want to check this out for a certain cameo.

Acting: 7.0

Writing: 7.0

Direction: 7.0

Production: 6.0

Overall: 7.0