On Wall Street Greed Is Still Good

The Verdict:

GO SEE!

Why?
Michael Douglas is still at his best 20 years later, replaying the icon of greed, Gordon Gekko. Shia LaBeouf is wonderful to watch as Gekko's  money loving yet good-hearted future son-in-law. And Josh Brolin is wickedly good as Wall Street's new Gekko. If you loved Wall Street, you'll definitely love Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.


REVIEW:

Gordon Gekko is back!

Michael Douglas (Wall Street, Fatal Attraction) is of course at his greatest reprising the money hungry, manipulative, greedy Gekko from Wall Street (1987).

After 8 years of being in prison for money crimes of insider trading and securities fraud, Gekko is a free man.

Is he reformed? Yes and of course no.

Gekko is now making money legally selling his book, "Is Greed Good?"and lecturing at colleges. But his main goal is to win back the love of his daughter Winnie (a cute, Carey Mulligan, An Education, Never Let Me Go). 

Winnie is engaged to Jake Moore (a great Shia LaBeouf, Disturbia, Transformers series), an ambitious but caring young man working on Wall Street in proprietary trading. 

Jake is curious about Gekko and goes to one of his lectures where afterwards he introduces himself as Winnie's fiance. Gekko is interested, seeing Jake as a way to get back into his daughter's life.

Beyond the story of reconciliation, there is also one of revenge. Jake wants to take revenge on Bretton James (a fabulous villain played by Josh Brolin, W., Jonah Hex), the new Gordon Gekko it seems--- a shady, powerful, greedy businessman who indirectly causes the suicide of Jake's boss Lewis Zabel (Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon, The Box) after Bretton buys Zabel's company.

From beginning to end, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is exhilarating. The action lies in the wonderful performances of the the actors (including an amusing Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise, The Lovely Bones) as Jake's co-dependent mother) and the conversations between them. Dialogue is everything. It's witty. Truthful. Damaging.

Fans of Wall Street are in for a treat for the scene mid-movie where a "certain someone" from the 80's classic makes a brief appearance. Hint: It's not Darien Taylor (Daryl Hannah, Splash, Kill Bill series).

The sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps greatly picks off where Wall Street left off.

Is greed still good?

Yes!