Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)

Preceded by: Wall Street (1987)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Gordon Gekko	Michael Douglas	½
Jake Moore	Shia LaBeouf
Bretton James	Josh Brolin
Winnie Gekko	Carey Mulligan
Jules Steinhardt	Eli Wallach
Jake's Mother	Susan Sarandon	½
Louis Zabel	Frank Langella
Dr. Masters	Austin Pendelton
Treasury Secretary	John Bedford Lloyd
Audrey	Vanessa Ferlito
Bud Fox	Charlie Sheen

Review

Drawing on the memory of the 1987-version, in which Oliver Stone scrutinized the yuppie culture rather successfully, this sequel looks and feels good early on as we meet Michael Douglas' devilishly good looking 2010 version of Gordon Gekko and get to know a young couple and their contrary connection to Wall Street and the money business. Carey Mulligan plays Gekkos estranged daughter, Shia LaBeouf her boyfriend and an up-and-coming investor for Keller Zabel, an investment bank helmed by his mentor Lewis Zabel, played with brilliance and incredible devotion by Frank Langella. Up until this point, Stone keeps interest and relevance up, combining flashy directional effects with a comment on the 2008 financial crisis. And as Douglas and LeBeouf gets in touch, things look promising both when it comes to story and suspense, but it doesn’t take too long to realize that the film's main plot setup is far to forced and constructed to be able to work on a plausible level. And when the construction starts to wobble, our attention is increasingly drawn to the fact that the foundation doesn't hold ground. The Mulligan/LaBeouf relationship is unconvincing, the conclusion ridiculous, and Stone ultimately loses track of what his film is really about. An unnecessary cameo by the previously brilliant Eli Wallach, now too old and out of his depth, is one of many destructive details.