Wanderings and … wonderings.

I hated this when I first saw it. I had expectations that were way too high (life advice: never do this). It’s really not that bad of a viewing experience, and to the extent that it could have been great.

The casting is mostly spot on, Josh Brolin doing a sneering, charmless version of Gekko, and Douglas playing the veteran raider as a wily fox slowly getting his groove back. I don’t mind Shia LaBeouf despite his arty-farty antics. He’s a fine actor – witness him in Fury (2014).

Sadly, this movie is saddled with a pointless love interest much like the first, though in the 1987 capturing of ‘Loadsamoney‘ the airhead female was at least a symbol of soulless social climbing. Charlie Sheen also makes an appearance here in perhaps the most nauseating and unnecessary cameo ever. Thank fuck the Donald Trump cameo was culled (yes, this happened).

It does get the financial crisis so right, though. It’s just a shame that Stone – usually the nailer of the zeitgeist – is a few years too late. Eli Wallach being very weird is also a hoot. And the movie is a worthy watch for the visuals alone. It’s more of an introduction to the wonderful Wall Street (1987) than an experience on its own terms. Peak Stone was both a product of an era and a stylisation of it, when Stone was the Bret Easton Ellis of celluloid.

Banging trailer here, though: