Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps was a 2008 film starring Michael Douglas and Shia LeBeouf. It was directed by Oliver Stone. Apparently it's a sequel to the 1987 movie, Wall Street. I haven't seen the original movie so I'll just treat this sequel as an independent entity, separate from any of its connections to the original movie.

The first part of the movie was really boring. I was doubting why there was such a hype around this movie before, and why people were saying it was good. I was ready to give up on this movie after the first ten minutes because it really wasn't all that interesting. As usual I decided to stick with it, but unlike the other movies, I still didn't get too excited about it. I'm not saying the movie was bad, but it took a lot longer for me to see the good bits.

It got a whole lot better when Gordon Gekko (Douglas) and Jake Moore (LeBeouf) met. That's when the movie got good and interesting. That's the point in the movie I started investing, looking what would happen. From that point on, I thought the movie was okay. The interaction of these two characters was dynamic and both characters had growth. The characters were developed and transformed.

One thing I will say is how amazing the cast was. Michael Douglas and Shia LeBeouf were so into their characters, so passionate about them that it was amazing to see them act it out. As much as I hated the personality of Gekko, Douglas' portrayal of the character made it that much tolerable. I actually looked forward to the scenes of Gekko just to be amazed by Michael Douglas. LeBeouf made sure the spotlight would not be focused on Douglas though. He was very invested in the character and it was great to see that passion. I really enjoyed Carey Mulligan's performance here and I thought she was nothing but superb. She's a great actress cause she made me involved in her character's life. 

I even liked the supporting cast. Frank Langella was "lovable" and I meant that as a character you would want to see all the time. I also liked Jake's friends, Robby and Audrey, played by John Buffalo Mailer and Vanessa Ferlito respectively. I was surprised to see a lot of the cameos, especially Warren Buffett and Charlie Sheen (who starred in the 1987 movie). 

I felt like the movie had a lot of potential, but somehow, somewhere, they never fully tapped into the potential. It was an okay movie. It eventually got interesting and it had a lot of twists and turns that made kept it interesting. But it started slow, moved slow, and there was never a big moment for me. Again, it's an ok movie for me. Decent enough to see, but nothing to be excited about. I'll see if my opinions will change after re-watching it. But as of now, I'm just going to say it was okay.