Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Cannes (Out of Competition) – Oliver Stone’s follow-up to his 1980s-set morality tale is a film that cleverly reflects the Wall Street of the recent financial crisis. Overcoming some doubts about the sequel’s curious title, Emma Rowley finds herself glad to catch up with Gordon Gekko again. 

Gordon Gekko has completed his prison sentence after serving eight years in jail for insider trading. On his release, all the other ex-inmates are greeted by family and friends but there is no such welcome for him. With his son dead, his daughter estranged and a ban from trading in force, he has nothing but the possessions he came in with; and we leave this defeated-looking figure as he realises he must start again from the bottom.

Seven years later, in Manhattan, his daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan) is now in her early twenties. Living in a stylish apartment with her boyfriend Jacob Moore (Shia LaBeouf), she has grown up mindful of the moral code that Gekko lacked and runs a left-leaning investigative news website. Though she’s turned her back on her father, blaming him for her brother’s descent into drug use and subsequent death, she is obviously conflicted, as evidenced by her choice of partner.

Jacob, you see, is a Wall Street trader just like Winnie’s dear old dad. He works for Keller Zabel, a banking group managed by his ageing mentor Lewis Zabel (Frank Langella), with whom the young man has a fierce bond of loyalty. When Bretton James (Josh Brolin), head of rival Churchill Schwartz, starts rumours that destroy KZI’s stock value, a chain of events begin that leave Jacob in search of a new father figure. It’s at this time that his old alma mater hosts a lecture by one Gordon Gekko, who has written a book capitalising on both his notoriety and knowledge of the money markets. After listening to him speak, Jacob is won over and approaches Gekko with the idea of healing the rift between his prospective father-in-law and his bride-to-be.

Wall Street itself was a black-and-white fable of the corrupting influence of power and money. Gekko was a panto villain and the film’s characters were simply divided into the ranks of the good and the greedy. Money Never Sleeps, however, takes a much more subtle approach thanks to a pithy script that does not shy away from the details of trading, and some thoughtful characterisation. Yes, there is a big bad in the form of Josh Brolin’s Bretton James (unexpectedly, almost superfluous to the main happenings, in spite of a convincing performance), but he is not alone in being held culpable for the money mismanagement that the film explores.

Every character is in some way guilty of adding fuel to the financial fire. While Gekko’s mantra that “greed is good” is referenced, the film’s central thesis is that society as a whole has internalised Gekko’s logic and turned it into a justification for thoughtless spending. This attitude is personified by Jacob’s flashy, irresponsible mother (a delightful turn from Susan Sarandon), who has made a living on the back of the housing boom, getting loans for and flipping property, then turning to her son for handouts of a few hundred thousand dollars at a time when things get bumpy. It’s also personified by Lewis Zabel (the always sterling Frank Langella), who has little understanding of the computerised deals and new forms of financing practised by his traders.

In terms of performance as well as names, this is a stellar outing, with Michael Douglas delivering an unexpectedly nuanced depiction of Gekko. While still able to turn on the charm with his perceived inferiors, he has lost the respect of his peers and his place in society and it’s almost painful to see his attempts to ingratiate himself with the city’s new money men. Likewise, Winnie is believably contradictory, with Mulligan’s performance elevating the character to something far above the usual daughter/girlfriend role (and perhaps more than it was on the page). Shia LaBeouf – who has not yet impressed in film roles that have largely consisted of mugging against a green screen – also acquits himself well. There is even a cameo that allows Stone to wrap up the story of a character from the first film (which drew applause in our screening).

This is undoubtedly one of Oliver Stone’s better films of late. While he hasn’t exactly traded in his ‘more is more’ approach (there are some dubious effects and metaphors – including a series of dominoes falling to symbolise the effect of the crash – and one outright oddity of a circular fade-in), the film is superbly directed and shot (Rodrigo Prieto was the DP), conveying the glamour of this rarefied world – on a large scale in its views of the New York skyline or subtly, by drifting over the diamond chandelier earrings worn by almost every woman at an upscale fundraiser.

The film has its share of problems. There’s a motorbike outing that goes nowhere but into the trailer and a plot McGuffin in the form of a clean energy fusion reactor that uses salt water for fuel (hmm – wouldn’t that just handily solve all of our problems?) as well as a final resolution that is a little too pat but all in all Money Never Sleeps is a worthy successor to the first film and many, including this reviewer, will like it much more. Oh, and even the title improves when it emerges it's a quotation from one of Gekko's famously didactic (and double-dealing) financial speeches.  

Rating on a scale of five clearly gratuitous product-placement shots: 3

Release date: 24 September 2010
Directed by: Oliver Stone
Written by: Allan Loeb, Stephen Schiff (based on characters by Stanley Weiser & Oliver Stone)
Cast: Michael Douglas, Shia LeBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, Eli Wallach, Vanessa Ferlito
Rating: US = PG-13; UK = TBC
Running time (mins): 136 (Cannes Film Festival cut)