What made the first Wall Street great was not simply the greed of Gordon Gekko, but the mesmerizing way he drew in Bud Fox. It was like watching a moth to flame, Gekko's seduction of Bud Fox, and to watch his morals go swishing down the toilet was like watching a train wreck.
This version of Wall Street lacked the taunt drama of the first. Gordon Gekko's charm was not nearly as effective on Shia LeBouf's character. For him to be so brilliant, after Gordon bounced out to London with a 100 million dollars all I wanted to say was, "sucker." You didn't see that coming? Everyone in the audience knew that Gordon Gekko wasn't going to go all mushy and exchange 100 million dollars for a relationship with his daughter. How could you be so gullible? This was suppose to be the climax, the shocking revelation that made us all gasp. It made me yawn and look at my watch.
Not only that, but the movie at various points was just too preachy. I realize the country's economic system is at the brink, but I don't really want to see a movie about it---reality is horrible as it is. So as far as entertainment value, Gordon's sermonizing about the perils of greed and speculations felt like I was being scolded for being a dumb sheep, blindly allowing the greed to happen. Another reviewer said that some might find it boring if we didn't understand financial terms. I have to disagree. I understand financial terminology and still found it boring.
Wall Street, was from the very beginning, a story about good and evil. How absolute power corrupts absolutely. How greed can never be satisfied and it will devour the naive and corrupt their moral values.
Wall Street 2 never developed into a movie that I cared about. I didn't care about the mentor committing suicide, I didn't care about the central characters and I didn't care about who put Gordon Gekko behind bars. Thus the movie failed to tell a compelling story. The actors were not bad, but not great. The cinematography was beautiful. But the story failed on so many levels that the movie should have went straight to DVD.
This version of Wall Street lacked the taunt drama of the first. Gordon Gekko's charm was not nearly as effective on Shia LeBouf's character. For him to be so brilliant, after Gordon bounced out to London with a 100 million dollars all I wanted to say was, "sucker." You didn't see that coming? Everyone in the audience knew that Gordon Gekko wasn't going to go all mushy and exchange 100 million dollars for a relationship with his daughter. How could you be so gullible? This was suppose to be the climax, the shocking revelation that made us all gasp. It made me yawn and look at my watch.
Not only that, but the movie at various points was just too preachy. I realize the country's economic system is at the brink, but I don't really want to see a movie about it---reality is horrible as it is. So as far as entertainment value, Gordon's sermonizing about the perils of greed and speculations felt like I was being scolded for being a dumb sheep, blindly allowing the greed to happen. Another reviewer said that some might find it boring if we didn't understand financial terms. I have to disagree. I understand financial terminology and still found it boring.
Wall Street, was from the very beginning, a story about good and evil. How absolute power corrupts absolutely. How greed can never be satisfied and it will devour the naive and corrupt their moral values.
Wall Street 2 never developed into a movie that I cared about. I didn't care about the mentor committing suicide, I didn't care about the central characters and I didn't care about who put Gordon Gekko behind bars. Thus the movie failed to tell a compelling story. The actors were not bad, but not great. The cinematography was beautiful. But the story failed on so many levels that the movie should have went straight to DVD.