Movie review: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps ****

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps  ****

Stars: Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan
Director: Oliver Stone
Rated: PG-13
Showing: Liberty Theatre week of Friday, October 8 - Friday and Saturday, 2:30/7:30pm; Sunday 2:30/5:30, Monday to Thursday 2:30/6:30pm. For more information about film times, call 292-7296.
Runtime: 136 minutes
Drama

Twenty-three years after Wall Street convinced the world that “greed is good” comes its follow-up — director Oliver Stone’s first sequel and another powerhouse performance by star Michael Douglas.

Douglas won his only acting Oscar for his performance as ruthless corporate raider Gordon Gekko in the original movie, Stone’s archetypal portrayal of 1980s excess. Now the brash stock market buccaneer is back — and as slick, savvy and sly as ever.

Set just before the global economy collapsed in 2008, Gekko has just been freed from prison for insider trading and is an outcast from the world he once ruled.

He sees the impending financial disaster and stock market crash but no one will listen due to his earlier crimes.

Gekko is also keen to rebuild his relationship with his estranged daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan), so forms an alliance with her fiancé Jake (Shia LaBeouf), a young, awestruck trader, in a bid to do both.

But Jake realizes — perhaps too late — that Gekko is still a master manipulator and redemption is not his main priority.

Douglas once again steals every scene he is in as the fast-talking mogul. He’s still the villain but he has so much seductive charm that like Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) in the original and Jake in the follow-up, you will quickly be under his spell.

As Gekko leaves jail with an empty gold money clip and a brick-sized cellphone, Douglas effortlessly shows how the quintessential 80s yuppie copes in the modern world and how he has developed. I wouldn’t be surprised if he won another Oscar for playing the same character.

Don’t let the annoying Shia LaBeouf (Transformers) put you off. Douglas out-acts and outclasses him, as does Oscar nominee Mulligan (An Education), but this is one of his better performances and he balances Jake’s idealism, naivety and cunning.

Fans of Wall Street will love the references to it although you don’t have to have seen the original to enjoy this — Stone wanted it to stand alone, which is why it isn’t called Wall Street 2.

The Money Never Sleeps subtitle comes from a quote by Gekko in the original — he phones Bud and wakes him up, telling him that “money never sleeps”.

It is not as good as the original but Douglas and the resurrection of one of the greatest movie characters ever in Gekko make it must-see viewing.

Watch if you liked: Wall Street, Boiler Room.