It is said that greed and fear are the dominant emotions in financial markets. But “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” is all about revenge. During the 23 years since the first Wall Street film, Gordon Gekko has been plotting his comeback…
It is said that greed and fear are the dominant emotions in financial markets. But “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” is all about revenge.
During the 23 years since the first Wall Street film, Gordon Gekko has been plotting his comeback and getting revenge on those that helped put in him jail.
Once again, a bright-eyed, idealistic member of the next generation is the subject of Gekko’s manipulations. This time it is Jacob Moore played by Shia LaBeouf of Transformers fame.
Moore is a much more three-dimensional character than Bud Fox from the earlier film (who actually makes a brief appearance in this one). Moore has an unshakeable faith in alternative energy and wants to make money by saving the world. He knows about CLOs and CDOs. He succeeds in an elaborate market manipulation. But Gekko just treats him the same as he did Fox: drip feeds him ’Gekko’ market wisdom and tempts him to sell out his loved ones (without him even realising it.) Eventually Moore’s growing desire for revenge for the death of his father figure makes Gekko appear the better person. But not for long…
For those of you expecting the same fast-paced plot and punchy one-liners as the first movie you might be slightly disappointed. This is more of a moral tale of a society avoiding taking responsibility for its financial mistakes. In terms of dialogue there is nothing of the likes of “If you need a friend get a dog” or “Lunch is for wimps”. Even the one-liners are serious: “You are the moral hazard” seemed to be directed at every member of the audience with a mortgage.
Twenty three years ago money was so much more fun. Now it is sad and lonely. But maybe this was Stone’s intent – to point out the mess the world is in due to the greed of a different generation of people. The best line just about had to be (paraphrased) “Greed was good in my day, but now it appears to be legal.”
There is a lot of fun in spotting the cameo appearances: Oliver Stone himself, legendary investor Warren Buffett, CNBC’s Jim Cramer and economic sage Nouriel Roubini.
Just to show that some things never change, the realtor that Jacob Moore uses to quit his apartment is the same one Bud Fox used. Never try to sell your Manhattan apartment at the end of a Wall Street movie, you always take a haircut on it!
Shia LeBoeouf is growing into a strong young actor – though there still isn’t a lot of range – just varying degrees of intensity. The serene Carey Mulligan is just too beautiful to watch, and Michael Douglas looks old and tired, but one assumes this is how he is supposed to look. Shia got into the character so much in terms of research that he was going to sit the exam that all traders in the US need for certification. He also traded his own account and made quite a lot of money for himself.
This is certainly an authentic account of the great credit bubble. Stone thoroughly researched the financial system and its players. It deals with complex issues of government intervention and the herd behaviour of market participants. But to paraphrase the first movie: we didn’t raise the sperm count on this deal.
By Mark Brighouse, September 2010.
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