Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Review

There’s not a fantastic track record for actors re-visiting their Oscar-winning roles — and I’m one of the people who enjoys “Hannibal”!

In “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”, Michael Douglas once again throws on a dizzying collection of fantastic suits and ties to play Gordon Gekko, the disgraced corporate raider who exits prison at the start of the film after a decade behind bars.

However, the problem with the new “Wall Street” isn’t Douglas, the same way the flaws “Hannibal” have little to do with Anthony Hopkins. (A great actor/role is hard to screw up, even in a below-average movie.)

The problem with “Money Never Sleeps” is that it’s about 20 to 30 minutes long because it tries to be too many movies at once. Besides obviously examining the state of our country on the brink of its economic collapse, it wants to be a father-daughter drama, a revenge flick, an environmental crusade, and a hard-hitting examination of acapella music. (Ok, I MAY have made the last one up.)

In the end, it winds up doing none of those things very well — or at least not effectively enough to be a satisfying movie.

Still, the movie’s far from a waste. Other than Douglas, the cast features four Oscar nominees…and Shia LaBeouf too!

Ok, that was kind of mean, and he doesn’t deserve that because LaBeouf is actually REALLY good here. He plays Jacob Moore, a young trader who loses his mentor early on and looks to exact revenge on Bretton James (Josh Brolin), the new corporate raider on the block. Jacob also happens to be dating Gekko’s daughter, Winnie (Carrie Mulligan), which is what presumably brings Gordon to the action this time around.

LaBeouf is actually the one who drives the action here the same way Charlie Sheen’s Bud Fox drove the action in the original. (Sheen allegedly makes a cameo as Bud Fox, but since he looked like he stumbled off the set of “Two and a Half Men”, and had two women at his arm, he really appeared as “Charlie Sheen.”) LaBeouf has always been good at playing intensely intelligent young motormouths, and that skill serves him well here with all the financial jargon he has to spit out. (To be honest, I couldn’t always follow what the heck was going on.)

No offense to his career as an unlikely action star, but THIS is the kind of movie Shia LaBeouf should be doing.

Douglas, in slightly more of a supporting role this time around, slips back into the Gordon Gekko persona easily. He also smartly uses his now-advanced age as an advantage. Just when you think prison and the ensuing years have softened Gekko, you find out he has a trick up his sleeve.

The rest of the cast don’t fare nearly as well as LaBeouf and Douglas. Brolin’s James is supposed to be the new Gekko, but since he’s supposed to be bad guy we root against (as opposed to Gekko’s charming rogue this time around) he’s deprived of any charisma. Mulligan does what she can (especially during the scene when Winnie and Gordon make somewhat of a breakthrough) with what is mostly a wet blanket role. Meanwhile, Frank Langella does much more with his handful of scenes than Susan Sarandon as Jacob’s mom. (Seriously, what was she doing in this thing?)

All that being said, my least favorite thing about “Money Never Sleeps” is that it is almost completely unrecognizable as an Oliver Stone movie. Where’s the energy, drive and visual flair from the movies he made in the 80’s and the 90’s. Whether you hated them or loved them, you used to always be able to tell when you were watching an Oliver Stone movie.

In the end, this yearning-to-be topical sequel ends up being a disappointment (though it’s far from an embarrassment). Oh well. At least now I have a new favorite subtitle to stick at the end of random movie titles. (“Paranormal Activity 2: Money Never Sleeps.”)

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps…C+