Oliver Stone if nothing else is the most controversial director in history. He is not afraid to take on any subject, portray any opinion and in the process tends to bring out the best in great actors. Even when he does a really bad film (and there has been a few...Alexander for instance) he still manages to make it his own and never fears to state the controversial. Wall Street is the pinnacle of what the eighties was all about greed, success based on monetary value, the thin line between morality and the "bad guy," and all this takes place on the finance capital of the world...Wall Street.
Wall Street is the story of young up and coming stock broker Bud Fox. Born and raised to blue collar parents he is desperate to prove himself with monetary value and success. Unfortunately the financial world around him is cutthroat and the master of all this is a business billionaire named Gordon Gekko. Fox has spent months trying to get into Gekko's inner circle and broker for him. Finally Fox's father gives inadvertently gives him an inside tip on a very low level stock and Fox finds his opportunity to bring it to Gekko. He talks Gekko into it and it makes them a boatload of cash. Fox is now on the inside of Gekko's seedy world and he quickly realizes that Gekko didn't get rich by being on the up and up. Insider trading, theft, spying, it's all part of the game but it's making Fox very rich, gives him the woman of his dreams, and he seems to have everything he's ever wanted but it's slowly causing the people he cares about to be hurt by Gekko's strong handed business tactics. When Fox discovers Gekko has double crossed him and intends on shutting down his father's business Fox uses everything Gekko has taught him to turn the tables and get revenge even if it means losing everything.
Michael Douglas in his Academy Award winning role is cutthroat and not the bad guy per se but really makes you love him and hate him all at once. Charlie Sheen who was of course one of the golden boys of the eighties does a good job but I kept thinking that Tom Cruise would have perhaps done an even better job. Oliver Stone does an incredible job of making a very complex area seem easier to understand in layman's terms and perhaps the audience doesn't always know what's going on but you never lose the focus of the film. It's captivating and edgy and controversial and you keep waiting for all this stuff to catch up to Fox and even moreso to Gordon Gekko. Darryl Hannah in another common role when they were trying to make her famous but she's just kind of there and doesn't add much to the film. This is a very intelligent, and interesting film and thrives on the whole eighties decade. I suggest anyone wanting to enjoy a really high strung film about finance check this one out. Performances are amazing and the story is entertaining and intelligent. 8.5/10
Wall Street is the story of young up and coming stock broker Bud Fox. Born and raised to blue collar parents he is desperate to prove himself with monetary value and success. Unfortunately the financial world around him is cutthroat and the master of all this is a business billionaire named Gordon Gekko. Fox has spent months trying to get into Gekko's inner circle and broker for him. Finally Fox's father gives inadvertently gives him an inside tip on a very low level stock and Fox finds his opportunity to bring it to Gekko. He talks Gekko into it and it makes them a boatload of cash. Fox is now on the inside of Gekko's seedy world and he quickly realizes that Gekko didn't get rich by being on the up and up. Insider trading, theft, spying, it's all part of the game but it's making Fox very rich, gives him the woman of his dreams, and he seems to have everything he's ever wanted but it's slowly causing the people he cares about to be hurt by Gekko's strong handed business tactics. When Fox discovers Gekko has double crossed him and intends on shutting down his father's business Fox uses everything Gekko has taught him to turn the tables and get revenge even if it means losing everything.
Michael Douglas in his Academy Award winning role is cutthroat and not the bad guy per se but really makes you love him and hate him all at once. Charlie Sheen who was of course one of the golden boys of the eighties does a good job but I kept thinking that Tom Cruise would have perhaps done an even better job. Oliver Stone does an incredible job of making a very complex area seem easier to understand in layman's terms and perhaps the audience doesn't always know what's going on but you never lose the focus of the film. It's captivating and edgy and controversial and you keep waiting for all this stuff to catch up to Fox and even moreso to Gordon Gekko. Darryl Hannah in another common role when they were trying to make her famous but she's just kind of there and doesn't add much to the film. This is a very intelligent, and interesting film and thrives on the whole eighties decade. I suggest anyone wanting to enjoy a really high strung film about finance check this one out. Performances are amazing and the story is entertaining and intelligent. 8.5/10