Directed by Oliver Stone. Starring Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Martin Sheen, Daryl Hannah, John C. McGinley, Hal Holbrook, Terence Stamp, James Karen, James Spader, Sean Young, Saul Rubinek, Sylvia Miles. (R)
Ambitious but wet-behind-the-ears day trader, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen), seizes the opportunity to bump elbows with stock speculator and corporate raider, Gordon Gekko (Douglas), accepting his mentorship and wealthy glamour in exchange for insider trading info (and, gasp, his soul?). Stone's exposé on the ruthless, driven world of Wall Street (his father was a stockbroker who died a couple years prior) is exciting but ugly, full of sharks in suits and blue collar fish food, camera circling and zooming like a predator; the dialogue/lingo isn't dumbed down to suit people who wouldn't know a stock listings directory from a phone book, but it's a credit to the screenplay (by Stone and Stanley Weiser) that it's never difficult to follow and anticipate. Both Sheens (playing father and son) do credible, faintly nuanced work; Hannah is dull as dishwater as Bud's materialistic girlfriend (most involved in the film agreed she was woefully miscast). But Douglas walks away with the film--and an Oscar--delivering several memorable monologues and finding that right mix of charisma and venality that makes Gekko so understandably envied or loathed (depending on the character's viewpoint). The final confrontation between the leads (and subsequent fallout) rings false, and the scenes with younger Sheen and Hannah are yawners, but there's enough dramatic sizzle here for a solid recommendation. Strange how Stone created two very memorable 80s villains (Gekko and Tony Montana) that are viewed in some circles as aspirational figures of the American Dream!
73/100
Ambitious but wet-behind-the-ears day trader, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen), seizes the opportunity to bump elbows with stock speculator and corporate raider, Gordon Gekko (Douglas), accepting his mentorship and wealthy glamour in exchange for insider trading info (and, gasp, his soul?). Stone's exposé on the ruthless, driven world of Wall Street (his father was a stockbroker who died a couple years prior) is exciting but ugly, full of sharks in suits and blue collar fish food, camera circling and zooming like a predator; the dialogue/lingo isn't dumbed down to suit people who wouldn't know a stock listings directory from a phone book, but it's a credit to the screenplay (by Stone and Stanley Weiser) that it's never difficult to follow and anticipate. Both Sheens (playing father and son) do credible, faintly nuanced work; Hannah is dull as dishwater as Bud's materialistic girlfriend (most involved in the film agreed she was woefully miscast). But Douglas walks away with the film--and an Oscar--delivering several memorable monologues and finding that right mix of charisma and venality that makes Gekko so understandably envied or loathed (depending on the character's viewpoint). The final confrontation between the leads (and subsequent fallout) rings false, and the scenes with younger Sheen and Hannah are yawners, but there's enough dramatic sizzle here for a solid recommendation. Strange how Stone created two very memorable 80s villains (Gekko and Tony Montana) that are viewed in some circles as aspirational figures of the American Dream!
73/100