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 Was
this sequel really necessary? Out of the pantheon of movie heavies --
Darth Vader, Freddy Kruger, Hannibal Lecter, Annie Wilkes -- one that
probably never crossed my mind to see again was Gordon Gekko, the inside
trader gone inside at the end of 1987’s Wall Street. Yes, there was a
catchphrase that seemed to sum up the era of Reaganomics, “Greed is
good”, but did that mean we needed to see him again? Apparently
writer/director Oliver Stone thought so and crafted another morality
tale around our avaricious moneyman. Considering the recent travails of
the world’s economy, we are in a period very like the 1980’s, except
possibly more dire. The money market playtime overseen by the previous
administration has left wounds that the current regime can’t seem to
heal, with unemployment and the rising of the poverty level at all time
highs and oversized financial institutions glad handing for government
bailouts -- bailouts that the average American can’t get a piece of.
Perhaps the exploration of the sorry state of money today is what
induced Stone to get Gekko out of the pokey and ready to take his place
amongst society a chastened man. Yeah, right.
Stone is so intent on providing a crash course on what exactly the
George Bush bailouts hath wrought that the storyline for Wall Street:
Money Never Sleeps seems itself a bit of a handout. A soap opera-y plot
pegged to the points Mr. Stone would like us to observe with one of his
most memorable characters -- himself a lesson in bad financial oversight
-- thrown in as glue for the rickety premise. Another young Wall Street
yuppie, Jake, a financial savant played by Shia LaBeouf, will fall under
the sway of the recently-released Mr. Gekko. Jake is devastated when
his mentor, the head of an investment house sees his decades of hard
work undone by a rival’s whispering campaign. At the same time, Jake’s
love life is looking up as he plans to pop the question to his
girlfriend. Having daddy issues of his own, Jake reaches out to his
fiancée’s dad, one Gordon Gekko, in an effort to heal the rift that the
older man’s time in the clink has caused. Of course, like The Jungle
Book’s Mowgli looking into the eyes of Kaa the snake, Jake is hypnotized
by both Gekko’s apparent devotion to his daughter as well as his
seemingly prescient knowledge of the conditions which brought about the
fall of Jake’s old job. After being warned by his girl not to get near
her old man, Jake reasons they’re going to be in-laws, Gordon’s done
time, he’s suffered, he’s learned his lessons, right?
Besides Stone’s clear desire to parallel the voracious avarice of
today’s financial climate to those of his original 1987 opus, Wall
Street: Money Never Sleeps really has no reason to be other than its
star Michael Douglas. Douglas was recently diagnosed with throat
cancer, which brings a strange voyeurism to the proceedings: Knowing
that Gekko’s haggardness is due to more than just the character’s time
inside and his references to the unstoppable pillaging of America’s
financial future as a cancer make one cringe in their seat, as do the
discussions of the character’s son’s drug problem, an issue currently
being faced in the actor’s household. Still, Douglas, whose film
appearances have become increasingly rare throws himself into Gekko’s
skin full stop, playing the ultimate insider with a gusto we’ve not seen
from him in many years. While clearly the star of the show (Sorry, I
still don’t understand why directors love Shia LaBeouf so much. His
nebbishy everyman isn’t bad, but is nothing particularly special either,
and I’ve no idea how old the actor is but he still looks like he’s just
out of high school.), Douglas chews his scenery with lovely table
manners; deigning not to completely obliterate the less skilled, less
interesting LaBeouf off the screen in their shared scenes. The only
other actor who holds their own compared to Douglas’ Gekko whirlwind is
Frank Langella as Jake’s blustery mentor. Mr. Langella spares us by
having a better dialogue coach than whoever approved unintentional comic
relief Susan Sarandon’s Lon Gisland accent as Jake’s real estate pimping
mom. The excellent and venerable Eli Wallach graces the film, making
the most of a strange role where he mostly has to wave his fingers and
whistle. Carey Mulligan is sweetly radiant and cries prettily (- as
she does in Never Let Me Go) as Gekko’s leery daughter, but doesn’t
have much to do outside of looking forlorn.
Stone makes sure fans of the first film have enough cameos and
references to keep them happy, but they also serve to enforce the
inferiority of this sequel. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is more of
the same tale of financial malfeasance strung together with a soap opera
storyline. Good thing for Stone that Michael Douglas slips so easily
into his hair gel and Armani suit as Gordon Gekko and manages to make
the warmed-over slosh bearably entertaining.
~ The Lady Miz Diva
Sept. 24th, 2010
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