Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps

There is nothing unusual about a very successful film to generate sufficient interest to warrant a sequel. What is uncommon is for almost a quarter of a century to pass between movies. This year at least two films that heavily contributed to defining the decade of the eighties. Now that the Baby Boomers are all grown up we look back at these flicks ready to revisit them from the vantage point of a new decade in a new millennium. The first of these films was the sequel to ‘Tron’ that set the standard for the newly discovered trend of computer graphics. Then there is the socially definitive flick of the decade; ‘Wall Street’. For those of us who came of age in the turbulent seventies the eighties was a time of radical change; a social paradigm shift that shook our culture. In our teens and twenties we rebelled against the establishment with sex, drug, and rock and roll. Many protested against the ongoing war in Vietnam while others took up the civil rights cause. In both cases the government and big business were in collusion. Then in the eighties our generation took jobs in those very same industries. Excess increased with the rush of cocaine replacing the mellow experience of pot. We looked around only to discovery we were now the establishment that a mere decade before we despised. The main character of ‘Wall Street’, Gordon Gekko, brilliantly portrayed by Michael Douglas, epitomized the time with his mantra; ‘Greed is Good’. Adherents to sentiments such as this eventually pillaged the financial world setting the scene for economic ruination. Financial matters such as this tend to exhibit cyclical behavior and once again 25 years later personal and corporate greed has destroyed the financial security of millions of people. It is time for a new generation to be introduced to Mr. Gekko. Our society is just beginning to revive from greed induced calamity creating just the right environment for this sequel.

When resurrecting a story it is generally beneficial to reunite as many of the talented cast and crew as possible providing a real sense of continuity. This axiom begins behind the camera with the return of its director, Oliver Stone. This is a man whose films are commonly represented at award season podiums, at the box office and even in the curriculum of major schools of the cinematic arts. Several of his movies assisted in constructing the cultural foundations of the eighties including one of the definitive films about Vietnam, ‘Platoon’. Although he stepped back from the screenplay he did ensure the one taking up that mantle had proven experience. Allan Loeb penned the Indy screenplay ‘Things We Lost in the Fire’ and the short lived but interesting television series ‘New Amsterdam’. Working with him was Stephen Schiff authored the script for the Adrian Lyne version of ‘Lolita’ and Clint Eastwood’s ‘True Crime’. Many sequels, particularly those with an intervening decade or two, contribute nothing of merit to the further development of the characters or story. In their instance there is ample justification to return to the Gekko view of high finance.

After serving eight years of his sentence Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) is released from prison. After receiving his personal property which includes a brick sized cell phone he walks out to resume his life; it is the year 2001. Rapidly we move ahead seven years to the economically fateful year of 2008. This time compression is a necessary plot device affording the film maker to give Gekko a realistic amount of prison time for a white collar crime adding the extra seven years to give him time to reestablish himself in the world of high finance. At first Gekko reinvents himself as a lecturer giving Delphi warnings of that the ‘Greed is Good’ mentality leads to ruination. The sequel format requires the introduction of another character, typically one that mirrors the pre-repentant persona of the lead. That function is handled nicely by Shia LaBeouf as Wall Street rising star Jake Moore. A natural emotional connection is formed by having Jake in a relationship with Gekko’s Daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan) who is engaged to the young trader. At the firm where Jake works his mentor is its CEO, Louis Zabel (Frank Langella). Jake begins with fairly noble ideas wanting to back a company specializing in alternative fuel research leveraging everything for it. So when thing begin to unravel incredible sums of money are lost in a very short time. Many of the most notable headlines of the 2008 financial crisis were incorporated into the script including a junior trader like Jake getting an obscene bonus of $1.45 million. Along the way the plot verves off to government bail outs and subprime mortgages. When a greedy few dump a stock the price plummets adding to the already increasing rapid decline of the Stock exchange. One thing that may detract from the story is the events that form the foundation of the story are still extremely fresh, for some even painful. Stone is at his best when tackling historically significant events or people. His films about Presidents Kennedy, Nixon and the second George Bush may not be completely accurate but the serve a vital task of capturing the prevalent mood and attitudes of a time and place. This is what he accomplishes here by condensing a complex series of financial maneuvers into one focal point; excessive greed that rises from a few highly placed men becoming a malignant corporate culture that brought down financial security for the world. As with all films under the Stone banner this one is visually stunning helping to making up for some of the gaps in the overall narrative of the story. Douglas is, of course, once again a force of nature reprising one of his most iconic roles. While LaBeouf does a good job as the younger Wall Street shark no one could hold their own opposite Douglas. This is not up to the original nut as far as sequels goes it is a worthy successor.

Posted 12/28/2010