Review of Wall Street (1987) by James S — 18 Oct 2010
Oliver Stone's financial epic looks dated almost 25 years on from it's release but still manages to deliver a decent thriller.
Michael Douglas created one of his most iconic roles here as corrupt investor Gordon Gecko, endlessly quotable ("greed is good", "lunch is for wimps") and utterly maniacal if in the most restrained manner. He is easily the best thing about this movie.
His competition isn't fierce though. Charlie Sheen is likeable enough as the rookie trader trying to make it big but he's very mannequin like next to Douglas' towering performance. That could have been the effect that Oliver Stone was after though. Daryl Hannah's character is pointless to the whole film and seems like she was only in there for the purpose of having a female character.
In amongst all the stocks and shares babble talk there is a fairly tightly plotted movie and Stone is a director of sufficient aplomb to never let it get boring and with Douglas, he achieves this very well, for the most part.
Unfortunately Wall Street ends on a whimper rather than a bang with a highly anti-climatic finale which leaves the film feeling badly open ended.
Wall Street is well worth watching to see just how different the financial world was in the 80s and for Michael Douglas' great turn as Gekko.
This review of Wall Street (1987) was written by James S on 18 Oct 2010.
Wall Street has generally received positive reviews.
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