Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)

IMDb Listing
I’ve never considered Wall Street to be one of my favorite Oliver Stone films, but this sequel, for the first hour or so of its running time, is one of the best movies of the year. Stone’s obviously working in an area that he knows something about – the original film was dedicated to his father, who was a stockbroker – and his critique of today’s financial system is harsh and effective. Surprisingly, during these sections of the film, Gordon Gekko (the iconic character from the first film, played again by Michael Douglas) is mostly relegated to the sidelines, surfacing mostly to serve as a sort of Greek chorus, filling the audience in on how things work and why they’re so corrupt. Unfortunately, the movie flatlines over the second half, as Gekko returns to the forefront, and it becomes clear that the filmmakers can’t make sense of their ambivalence towards the Gekko character. Hence, he becomes both ruthlessly villainous while at the same time, just a flawed old guy who wants to be a better dad to his grown daughter (Carey Mulligan, giving some dimension to the kind of underdeveloped female character common in Stone’s films) and future son-in-law (Shia LeBeouf). My lasting impression was that of disappointment, since Stone had half of a great movie here, with a career-best performance from LeBeouf and terrific supporting turns by Josh Brolin and Frank Langella. 6/10