When I heard that Stone was filming a sequel to Wall Street, and that the subject matter would be based around the collapse of Lehmans and Bear Stearns, I was very excited indeed. What an excellent opportunity for a tense, clever financial melodrama, just like the original. Unfortunately, Stone sold out. He instead decided to provide a back story around the daughter that Gekko left behind, and that a human interest tale would be sufficient. I was shocked when Gekko wept for his past crimes. He came across as a wimp. This was not the way it should have been. Gekko should instead have come out of jail all guns blazing, behaving the same way that he did before he went in, and then come a cropper as a result of the financial collapse. I am also appalled at the casting of Shia LaBeouf as a top stockbroker. He doesn't act convincingly at all. Josh Brolin has great screen presence but he is cast in the role of a villain, with no decent lines or material to get his teeth into. We don't get to see any shadowy business dealings that would give flesh to the premise that he is one of the bad guys. Instead a very weak plot line has Frank Langella play a mentor of the LaBeouf character, who is betrayed by Brolin and commits suicide. This becomes the basis for LaBeouf's revenge. The revenge when it happens is not great. LaBeouf rats Brolin out to the authorities for insider trading. Hardly The Sting. Also when Gekko finally betrays his daughter, it doesn't convince either.The ending was disappointing, with it's Waltons sucrose sentimentality. This shoddy sequel makes it hard to watch the original Wall Street now without a bad taste in the mouth. One of the most objectionable scenes was the appearance of Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox, the playboy, with a model on either arm, boasting about how much money he made when he sold Bluestar airlines, and completely betraying the important life lessons he had discovered by the end of the original film. Thanks for taking a wrecking ball to my memories of your original Oscar winning film, Oliver. Please don't do any more sequels, or further destroy your CV.
Review of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
