Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 8, 2010
The Critic's Corner
David Laprad
In the ’80s, Oliver Stone was the American director to watch. While everyone else was making action comedies and costume dramas, he was using movie theaters as a bully pulpit.
With “Platoon,” Stone tried to rattle audiences out of their self-absorbed stupor and force them to remember a horrifying chapter in U.S. history. Once viewers were adequately sobered up, he unleashed “Wall Street,” a stern indictment of the materialism of the decade. Although critics heaped praise on his movies, being the only angry director of his time made him stick out like a sore thumb.
That must have made him even madder, because in the ’90s, Stone switched from commentary to revisionism. His productions during that period, including “The Doors,” “JFK” and “Nixon,” were notorious for playing fast and loose with history. While he honed his blunt force visual style during the ’90s, his alleged disregard for facts in exchange for what many people perceived to be paranoia damaged his artistic credibility.
Then Stone made an epic disaster called “Alexander.” He spent years on the movie, and then something in him seemed to die when it landed with a bone-rattling thud. His next film was the dramatically effective, but politically innocuous, “World Trade Center.” Then came “W,” his account of George Walker Bush’s rise to power and controversial presidency. Although entertaining, one could feel Stone holding his punches.
Now comes “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” a sequel to his ’80s hit. With the global economy still struggling to gather steam in the wake of the recent collapse and Michael Douglas back as Gordon Gekko, one might assume “Money Never Sleeps” would be a return to form for Stone. But one would be wrong.
That’s not to say “Money Never Sleeps” is a bad movie. Like all of Stone’s directorial efforts, it’s beautifully photographed, tightly edited and packed with great dialog. The performances are superb as well. Douglas hasn’t lost a beat since the ’80s, and Shia LeBeouf proves he deserves to share the screen with luminaries like James Brolin and Frank Langella.
Plus, “Money Never Sleeps” tells a story worth telling. The movie opens with Gekko getting out of jail in 2000. In a nice touch, Stone has stripped him bare: he has only a thousand dollars and a three-pound mobile phone to his name, and no greets him at the prison gate.
Stone then jumps forward six years to introduce Jake Moore (LeBeouf), who works for a banking firm named Keller Zabel. We meet him as he’s pitching a $100 million investment in an alternative energy project to the board of the bank. In the next scene, his world-weary boss and beloved mentor, Lewis Zabel (Langella), gives him a $1.5 million bonus check.
Moore uses some of the money to buy an engagement ring for his girlfriend, Winnie, who also happens to be Gekko’s daughter. The next day, rumors start circulating about the collapse of Keller Zabel.
When Zabel meets with the U.S. Treasury at the Federal Reserve to pitch a government bailout of the company, one of the board members, Bretton James (Brolin), orchestrates a move to buy Kaller Zabel for a humiliating $3 per share. The next day, Zabel throws himself in front of a subway train.
Meanwhile, Winnie isn’t speaking to her father because of the overdose death of her brother. Regardless, Gekko is doing well, as he’s written a best seller titled “Greed is Good” and is making a decent living on the lecture circuit. Moore attends one of his lectures and establishes contact.
As “Money Never Sleeps” progresses, we learn James started the rumors that got the wrecking ball swinging toward Kaller Zabel. Jake, out to avenge Zabel’s death, starts a rumor that costs James $120 million. In turn, James hires Moore and promises him $100 million for his pet energy project. When James goes back on his word, Gekko reveals to Moore that Winnie has $100 million sitting in an offshore account.
Stone does a good job of putting the pieces in place for a searing condemnation of the system that led to the current financial crisis and a riveting drama. What viewers get, however, is a slightly critical look at the economic mess in which we find ourselves and a mildly engaging drama.
Gekko is fun to watch as he worms his way back to the top, and into Winnie’s heart, and Stone milks the underlying tension of whether or not he’s on the up-and-up for all it’s worth. But in the end, all he delivers is an entertaining but average movie that resolves its issues too easily.
It seems Stone has given up the struggle and is content to observe the world without trying to change it. I miss the angry director of the ‘80s. Someone needs to make this guy mad again.
Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.
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