Viewed in
2010
Formats
DVD
Premise
Charlie Sheen stars as a green Wall Street grunt was wants to become the next Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) by being mentored by Gekko himself, ethics be damned.
Loved
Michael Douglas' performance, the dialog.
Liked
The cast and their performances.
Disliked
The logic in the third act.
Thoughts
A well-written and acted film.
What I liked best was the poetic speeches and memorable lines about money, power, and the drive to attain them. At times, the writers made it feel more like a stage play than a motion picture. I enjoyed the cool moments as characters pontificated these wonderful, intelligent phrases that touched on numerous themes about surviving versus living, soul versus money, and "greed is good".
Quality writing encouraged quality acting. It also attracted a quality cast full of recognizable 1980's actors like Sean Young and Darryl Hannah. Charlie Sheen was believable as the hungry, clever youngster. Casting his real-life father was a bit distracting, but Charlie and Martin pull off the father-son relationship well enough to overcome it. Naturally, this film really belonged to Douglas' Gordon Gekko. Even with all the hype, he owned the character with allure, ruthlessness, and pure presence.
Overall, director Oliver Stone did an excellent job of portraying this dizzying, merciless jungle. The jargon-filled dialogue felt genuine and never dumbed down. His vision and execution helped capture what it felt like to live in that time and place, as well as the brains, clothes, posture and attitude required to thrive in such a world.
The biggest flaw was some of the character's actions that moved the story to the third act. I found it really hard to believe that Gekko could not anticipate his protege's reaction after acquiring the airline. Also, while I liked all the jargon and realistic stock talk, I did get lost once in a while at what was happening.
Thanks to some knowledgeable writing and Stone's directing, this film still held up very well with its timeless dialogue and memorable performances.
What I would change
Nothing.
