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| Wall Street (March 20/01)
Charlie Sheen (looking incredibly young and fresh-faced) stars as Bud Fox, a hot-shot young trader with an eye toward the fast-track. After relentless persistence, he gets a meeting with the top-dog in the stock market world, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas, in his Oscar-winning role). Bud wows Gekko with information he got from his father, union representative Carl Fox (Martin Sheen), and quickly becomes Gekko's right-hand man. Soon, Bud is living in an expensive apartment with a beautiful woman (Daryl Hannah), but eventually discovers that what goes up must come down. Admittedly, I'm not a fan of Oliver Stone. While some of his movies are good (Natural Born Killers), most of them are bad (Nixon). But he really made this one work. Perhaps it's due to the restrained approach Stone takes in telling this story. There are none of the usual camera tricks (save one sequence with split-screen stuff, but it actually worked there) that tend to plague his movies. He tells the story with as little interference, choosing instead to let the actors and the script do most of the work. I think a lot of the credit has to go to Sheen (Charlie, not Martin - although he's just as good). He has to convincingly go from green newbie to seasoned pro within a matter of scenes and he pulls it off. But Douglas, as Gekko, is the real reason to see this movie. He steals all the scenes he's in and deserved that Oscar, no doubt. It's hard to believe that someone this slippery and slimy could exist, but given the recent flux of broker programming in movies and on TV, I suppose Gekko's an archetype. Wall Street is always interesting and I suppose that has to do with the compelling nature of trading. I doubt it's quite so exciting in real life, but on screen (and in the hands of the right director), it becomes a riveting thing to watch. The movie slows down, though, in scenes that don't feature trading or Douglas, and I suppose that has to do with how good the two are. It's never boring, though, and the movie is relatively short (by Stone's standards). ***1/2 out of **** © David Nusair 2001 |
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"Greed is good." This is a line that has been made immortal. It's up there with "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" and "I made him an offer he couldn't refuse." Watching Wall Street, you get the impression that greed may be good, but it can also be deadly if you're not careful.