First Hit: Enjoyed the acting and some of the shots of New York but the story wasn’t very well told.
It wasn’t until the following morning did I see the integration of the story. Maybe others got it more quickly but I didn’t.
As the credits rolled, I looked at my girlfriend, who made me wait a week to see it, and said, “What did you think?” Paraphrasing, she said it didn’t make sense and didn’t have a point. I saw her point but somewhere I knew it did make sense and had a point.
However, it didn’t come to me until the next day. Maybe I’m slow and the way this film unfolded made it difficult for me to put all the pieces together. However, I see more films than the average audience goer and I find it difficult to believe that I was the problem – but who knows.
Regardless, Michael Douglas reprises his role as Gordon Gekko the Wall Street financier who ended up in jail for insider trading in the first film. When he steps outside of the prison walls there is nobody there to pick him up. While in prison he wrote a best-selling book about his experience and heads out into the world once again.
His daughter Winnie Gekko (played by Carey Mulligan) wants nothing to do with her father, is running a website for alternative energy and lifestyles, and is living with a Wall Street trader named Jack Moore (played by Shia LaBeouf).
Moore is being mentored by an old and long-time street executive named Louis Zabel (played by Frank Langella). Their firm is in trouble and is going down the tubes if they don't get a cash infusion or are bought out. The government will only support a bargain basement buyout by a firm led by Bretton James (played by James Brolin).
Zabel is crushed by the turn of events and commits suicide by jumping in front of a subway train. The company collapses and Moore blames James on the death of both his company and his mentor. Revenge is in the air and when James listens to a talk by Gekko about the state of current Wall Street economics he decides to approach Gekko for his thoughts and assistance.
One of the most amusing scenes in the film is seeing Charlie Sheen reprising his role as Bud Fox from the first film and the exchange of conversation between him and Gekko at a fundraising event.
Douglas is wonderful in this reprised role. The taste and flavor he left on one’s mouth after the first film is, 13 years later, picked right back up again and holds true throughout this film. LaBeouf is engaging and strong as Moore. There isn’t anything great about this performance, yet I can’t think of anyone else who would have brought it together in his age group. Mulligan finally plays an age appropriate part. And here she gives a strong performance. Eli Wallach as Jules Steinhardt is interesting because he controls so much, yet says so little. It is his money that changes the game of the film. Brolin is wonderful as James the overly confident “we’re to big to fail” arrogance of the recent financial failure of Wall Street. Langella is good as the aging man who tried to keep up with the new deal making on Wall Street while stuck in the integrity of the older world. And Susan Sarandon as Jack Moore’s mother clearly portrays the stupidity and greed of buying real estate for an investment versus buying it as a home to live in. Oliver Stone directs this with some visually stunning shots of New York but the film lacks a clear story, is confusing and didn’t really provide the kind of power it could have by exposing the how of the recent financial melt-down.
Overall: Lacked cohesiveness in both its storyline and direction. However, it is definitely worth watching when Douglas in on the screen.