Non-2020 First Time Watches Ranked
Directors Ranked: Oliver Stone

Film #67 in my 100 Degrees, 100 Movies Challenge

Common actor from previous film: James Spader

PREVIOUS FILM: Lincoln
NEXT FILM: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

I feel like I am starting off a lot of my reviews saying this but I didn't think I would like this much. I've never been huge on Michael Douglas as an actor, or Charlie Sheen for that matter. Plus the Wall Street thing doesn't really interest me much (although I loved Wolf of Wall Street).

I didn't understand some of the shit they were talking about when it came to the marketplace trading but this film essentially boils down to a tale of morality and greed. The old 'would you cash in your morals for a shortcut to the top' type thing and it works.

Michael Douglas is fantastic here (although I don't know if he should've won an Oscar for this) as Gordon Gekko, the slimiest of slimeballs. Charlie Sheen is interesting as the naive Bud Fox but I wouldn't say he was bad. He was enjoyable for the most part. The majority of the supporting cast are fantastic with the likes of Martin Sheen, James Spader, John C. McGinley, Terence Stamp and Hal Holbrook all putting in work. Unfortunately the two female characters are written horribly in this. I read that Sean Young's reduced and hollow role was basically because she was a fucking bitch on set. But Daryl Hannah was just awfully written in this and her performance didn't help matters either.

I quite like Stone's direction here. He gets to use his patented shaky cam in the Wall Street scenes and it works because it captures the hectic atmosphere of it perfectly. I thought the pacing was also mostly on-point with very few dragging parts in the film. The dialogue is also great with multiple great quotes: 'money never sleeps', 'greed, for the lack of a better word, is good', and an underrated one, 'life is made up of moments. This is just one of them.'

Overall, this is a really enjoyable film. I dunno how the sequel is gonna go though.