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Greed Between the Lines

Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" - the director's ode to the financial excesses of the 80s - may not be a perfect movie (don't get me started on the tacked-on love story) but, like "Scarface", the film has achieved a permanent place in the pop culture lexicon regardless of its short-comings. Whether you know the film well or not, you've likely heard its "Greed is Good" motto, if not the more obscure favorite, "blue horseshoe loves Anacott Steel". After the financial turmoil of the past two years, now seems a perfect time for Mr. Stone to revisit this territory and the iconic Michael Douglas character, Gordon Gekko. But could a "Wall Street" sequel, 23 years later, possibly live up to the hype? Well, if "Wall Street" was Mr. Stone's "Godfather", then "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" is smart and well-crafted enough to be his "Godfather II". I know, I'm surprised I wrote that too.

When "Money Never Sleeps" opens, Gordon Gekko is released from prison with nothing but an empty gold money-clip and a laughably huge 80s-era cell phone. Leaving the prison gates, he is met by...no one. The film cuts to eight years later, 2008, pre-collapse. Gekko has written a book called "Is Greed Good?" and faded into relative obscurity. Meanwhile, a young motorcycle-riding hotshot named Jake Moore (Mr. LaBeouf) is the new guard. Jake is an up-and-comer at a large investment bank, KZI, and is a protégé to one of its owners (Frank Langella, nicely unhinged). Jake also happens to be dating Gekko's very, very estranged daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan), who runs a liberal blog called The Frozen Truth.

Using this setup, the finely-sharpened script by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff takes us through the Wall Street collapse which very quickly brings KZI to the brink of bankruptcy. Jake, being the resident whiz kid, senses something is afoot with the "evil empire" Churchill Schwartz, a none-too-veiled Goldman Sachs-type entity led by Bretton James (Josh Brolin, playing greed incarnate). Jake uses his soon-to-be familial ties to Gekko to get to the bottom of the shady, back-alley dealings that brought KZI (and very nearly the nation) to its knees.

All this may seem like a perfect opportunity for Oliver Stone to get on his soapbox, take potshots and otherwise rub our noses in the economic meltdown from which we are all still reeling. But this is Mr. Stone at his most refined, his most professional. Yes, there are some zingers aimed at some easy targets - particularly from Gekko - but this is a carefully-played and (dare I say it?) lovingly-crafted coda to one of the director's seminal films.

Mr. LaBeouf is a natural as the heir to the Charlie Sheen character from the original film. Without the skyscraping CGI robots lumbering around him, Mr. LaBeouf is able to create a character that's instantly recognizable - the suburban boy enthralled by the promise of wealth and power. Ms. Mulligan is given a nice backstory to play with Mr. Douglas and, if it's possible to win two Oscars for the same character, the actor may do it here. Mr. Douglas wears the Gekko character like one of his many impeccably tailored suits. The film may be about the result of his "Greed is Good" mantra, but that plays second-fiddle to the character's attempt at redemption. His scenes with Ms. Mulligan, in particular, are beautifully realized.

Faced with the challenge of following up a film as well-known and well-loved as "Wall Street", Mr. Stone and his team have made one good choice after another. Yes, some scenes go on too long and a few moments are too on-the-nose (the shot of falling dominos; the kids in the park blowing bubbles - get it?), but otherwise this sequel - like its iconic character - is every bit as slick, relevant and, yes, mature as you'd want it to be.