Rating: 3.8/5
OK!! I finally saw WallStreet 2: Money Never Sleeps. Prior to today, I tried to see it about 4 times and every time something came up (the 4th time, I got the times mixed up...) anyway so...here are the things you need to know (don't worry - no spoilers ahead! Just my suggestions coming up ;-)):
1) Don't go expecting Wall Street 1. Why? because?! DUH! - no seriously because we all know the sequels usually aren't as good as the first film;
2) Just go to "watch a movie", a movie that just happens to have Gordon Gekko in it;
3) Gordon Gekko isn't real? OK? so don't go there expecting to know "how Gekko should behave";
4) there is no number 4.
OK...first thing first, I am loving the movie posters. Love the father and son theme going on here. Mentor and Protégé theme if you will. Check out an example below:
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| Student and teacher? |
Now to the movie! So, like I told you above, I went with attitude (points 1-3) and actually really enjoyed the film. I guess it kind of helped that I watched Wall Street 1 (again) last year so I dont remeber the entire story by heart. So the sequel was new and fresh for me.
What's good?:
- Michael Douglas is still good as Gekko but he doesn't have a lot of screen time;
- Well, from the recent events point of view, I thought it was interesting to watch a movie that showed the credit crunch or atleast incorporated it into the story. I didn't go to do math or to get investment tips from the film so I didn't care if anything added up or not (maybe it did? maybe it didn't? who cares? I saw it for pure entertainment value);
- Shia LaBeouf! Hello? Shia always looks so geeky but for a geeky guy he actually looks very hot! He is hot and looks fine in a suit (I love guys in a good suit). In one of the scenes he asked the female character played by Carey Mulligan (more on her later) to marry him and she thought for a moment. I nearly shouted at her "Girl!! say yes!!! you could be Mrs LaBeouf!! but then I realised Shia wasn't asking her for real and he was playing a character and you know, it's marriage. You have to think about it and blah blah.
Check out his beautiful big brown eyes below....nice tie too!
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| Hot geek? |
- THE APARTMENT! oh My God, forget the story! The apartment in which Shia's character lives with his girlfriend is AH-MAZING!!!! Now that is my kind of place. In fact, that is my dream place. I would love to own a place like this one day and preferably with Shia LaBeouf in it!
What's not good?
- Shia may be hot but I am sorry his character isn't interesting like Charlie Sheen's. I didn't care much for his connection with his mentor and all that (but then I told myself to stop comparing it to the original and I was good to go); Shia looked quite young to be playing a high flying Wall Street guy;
- CAREY MULLIGAN....where did they find her??? she is an awful actress. She didn't sound American, sounded more like a Brit (which she is) with a fake American accent and I didn't buy her running a "not for profit" website exposing the bad bad world of wall-street and all that. Her "blog" ran from a cool office (they had lots of iMacs) and anyway, if she is really anti-capitalism then what on earth is she doing going out with a WALL STREET GUY?! Hypocrite? (barf). I also don't like her hair style. It looks awful.
- They spent too much time on the other bad guy played by Josh Brolin (don't worry, I am not giving out any movie secrets. It's pretty obvious in the film that he is the bad guy and they make no secret of it either).
- Gekko should have had more screen time.
Bottom line is, the movie is enjoyable. It's something you will not regret watching (e.g. you would regret watching 'Eat, Pray, Love'). But if you come out feeling stressed then I really don't know what to say about it. It might be useful to talk to someone about it then?
Final Verdict: It won't win an Oscar but then again I am sure they weren't aiming for an Oscar either.
Enjoy it :)
