MPAA Rating: R/Genre: Crime Drama/Stars: Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Daryl Hannah, Martin Sheen, John C. McGinley, Terence Stamp, James Karen, Hal Holbrook, Sean Young, James Spader, Saul Rubinek, John Capodice, Franklin Cover, Sylvia Miles, Millie Perkins, Josh Mostel, Paul Guilfoyle/Runtime: 126 minutes
It might surprise you to learn this, but did you know that cinema has a function beyond being mere entertainment and/or pieces of art for both the casual movie goer and reviewers of some skill and renown such as myself to dissect and endlessly debate for as long as our vocal cords will permit us to do so? Indeed; when you really stop to think about it dear reader I feel that there are certain movies out there which can also operate as time machines of a sort. By that I mean there are just some slices of cinema which we can view and, no matter how long it has been, we are immediately taken to a different era altogether. Yes it might be an era that we were a part of at one point in our lives thereby providing us with that warm and familiar feeling of nostalgia. At the same time though, it is also just as likely that the era which we are transported back to is one that we might never have gotten to be a part of though thanks to the film in question we still feel like it is familiar to us. Either way you shake it however, there is no denying that there are just some slices of cinema that, from how the film in question looks all the way to the thematic material at play within the narrative, are just perfect showcases for the decade in which they were made. Indeed, to name but a few examples, Easy Rider from 1969 is a fantastic portrait of such iconic elements of the 60s including the casual usage of drugs, communal living, and the counter culture/hippie movements that arose because of tensions originating from the American public’s feelings toward (among other things) Vietnam. Along with that, The Matrix from 1999 is a fantastic cinematic representation of the fear that people possessed toward the ever-growing reliance we as a species were developing toward technology due to the presence of both cellular devices and a small little invention known as the Internet. With such examples in mind, it shouldn’t really surprise you then to learn that the 1980s were by no means immune to this phenomenon either with the film I happen to be reviewing for you today Wall Street being a wonderful example of this due to its riveting showcase of the materialism and over the top excess present to say nothing of the corporate greed and morally dubious actions engaged in by people at the time in the world of finance while also being an incredibly entertaining film in its own right. To be sure, it’s not perfect, but with the aid of solid work on both sides of the camera Wall Street “87” still manages to be one riveting cinematic outing that is sure to entertain you from beginning to end whilst also leaving you with something to ponder long after the credits have begun to roll.
The plot is as follows: Taking movie goers back to the iconic year of 1985, Wall Street “87” gets its cautionary tale underway by introducing us to a young man by the name of Bud Fox. A guy who, among other things worth knowing about him, is a member of that distinct group known as stockbrokers working for a company called Jackson Steinem in the Big Apple (or New York City if you prefer formality) located on (get this) Wall Street. Unlike a lot of his co-workers however, we see that Bud is very much still learning the various ins and outs of his career path in life to the point that he’s even still having to engage in the *ahem* “time-honored” business tradition of cold calling people every day as part of his job duties just to try and begin building a client list that he can build future success off of. More than anything else in the world however, Bud is the kind of ambitious individual who would very much like to be at the level of success as some of his idols in the same industry with the key one being an iconic member of the corporate raider community named Gordon Gekko. As hard as he tries however, we see that Bud has (up until this point in our story) sadly been unable to get even a meeting with the guy to try and convince him he has what it takes. I add that last part incidentally because it isn’t long into our story that we see Bud finally be able to get through and have a meeting with his idol who, sensing some potential in our intrepid hero, makes the incredible choice to take him under his wing so to speak and teach him how he does things with some of those ways being on the up and up and some of those ways being perhaps a bit more ethically and/or legally dubious to put it lightly. As a result, we see that it isn’t long before Bud finds himself getting the chance to become a part of the upper crust world he has long wanted to be involved in; one that, sure involves shady business dealing, but which also comes with some terrific perks including wealth, privilege, a corner office at his firm, a new girlfriend named Darien, and the opportunity to live life in a manner that most of us could only begin to imagine. As great as things are however, it should come as no surprise to learn that there is a price which must be paid in order for Bud to ensure that he is able to maintain his newfound lifestyle. Yet when the price comes to include his ethics, his honor, and the future of his blue-collar worker of a father’s employment at the airline he has worked at his whole life to say nothing of the airline itself can our hero recover his sense of morality or is the closing bell about to ring on his future for good? That I will let you discover….
Now right off the ol’ one dollar bill, it should be said that the work done by the various units operating behind the camera on this particular cinematic venture all manage to do an undeniably skilled job at bringing this film to life in a way that I honestly think few others at that time in the industry of movie magic really could have. Without a doubt in my mind, this most assuredly starts with the work done by iconic (or infamous dependent on who you are talking to) Oliver Stone in the director’s chair and this is definitely one of the better efforts on his distinct creative resume. Indeed there are several components here which I really think help to distinguish Stone’s work here at the helm. The first is that Stone, drawing on his father’s time as a stockbroker, does an absolutely magnificent job here of really giving us as an audience a view of the world of finance on Wall Street that looks and feels incredibly realistic. A feat he is able to achieve not only by filming in such locations as the actual New York Stock Exchange, but also in how he is able to have the financial machinations at play pretty consistently in the story be quite complex to say nothing of believable yet never once are they too indiscernible for even the person whose only knowledge of the stock market being that one time they went Bankrupt in a game of Monopoly. Along with that, we see that Stone is extremely successful at really immersing us as an audience into a fair degree of the moral ambiguity and ethical conundrums that can crop up from time to time in the world of finance and then offering us as an audience a very pointed rebuke of the greed and unscrupulousness at the heart of that world. As a result, we see that whilst there are specific beats within the story that you can predict, there is also no denying that this additional analysis of sorts does manage to provide a wonderful amount of layering to this narrative that really goes out of its way to help to distinguish it from simply being another run of the mill entry in the financial thriller subgenre a’la something like Boiler Room from 2000 for example (as underrated as that film is to an extent). Besides the work done by Stone at the helm and on the page (he co-wrote this film’s screenplay alongside screenwriter Stanley Weiser), this slice of cinema also contains some truly skilled work from Oscar-winner Robert Richardson in the cinematography department. Indeed not only does Richardson do a fantastic job of utilizing extremely kinetic and lively camerawork to accurately depict the fast-paced, if not more than slightly frenzied, world that this film takes place in, but he also does beautiful work when it comes to his utilization of both stark contrasts and dramatic lighting to really sell for us the suspense and moral uncertainty present in this industry. Last, but by no means least I feel like this section would be very much in the red if I didn’t take some time to talk about the work done by Stewart Copeland (drummer for The Police) on this film’s score. Indeed Copeland does a masterful job here of giving us a musical accompaniment that, even with a hint of melancholy here and there, does manage to synch up with the zero-sum to say nothing of energetic mood that the rest of the film is drenched in incredibly well. Suffice it to say that when you also take into account incredibly skilled work from the editing and costume departments among others it’s clear the work done behind the camera here definitely is operating on a very solid level despite a few hiccups to be found here and there.
Besides the undeniably skilled work done by the various teams working behind the camera, this slice of cinema is also blessed to contain equally as talented work done in front of the camera courtesy of a loaded and impeccably cast collection of performers even if a lot of them don’t have nearly as much screentime to work with as a select few. This starts with Charlie Sheen in the lead role and, despite where exactly the man’s career has gone as of late, there is no denying that this is one of his better efforts as an actor. Indeed as Bud Fox, we see that Sheen does a wonderful job of giving us a guy who, at the beginning of the film, is very much someone who is for all intents and purposes a decent and hardworking kid who simply wants to climb the rungs of the ladder to significantly greater degrees of success and wealth than he is currently at. As the film goes on and Fox interacts with Gekko more and more however, we see that Sheen is also able to successfully convey to us the descent of Bud’s character into someone who is not only more than just a tad bit unlikable, but who also is very much willing to stoop to the lowest moral, ethical, and legal levels possible in order to attain success, financial gain, or some combination of the two even at the cost of his morality to say nothing of the relationships he has with his family and friends with particular regard to his father. No I won’t tell you where his character winds up by film’s end, but what I will say is that this is definitely a solid performance and one that Sheen brings to life incredibly well. As terrific as Sheen is though, he still manages to pale just a bit when compared to the truly electrifying (and Oscar-winning) work done by Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko. Indeed as Gekko, we see that Douglas is phenomenal as someone who is very much a driven and hard-working individual that has become so blinded by greed that it has resulted in him both looking for whatever shortcuts he can utilize to his advantage to say nothing of the fact that it has resulted in him having no ethical barriers in regards to how he conducts himself and/or his business operations as best personified by his now iconic “Greed is Good” speech. Suffice it to say it is a genuinely riveting performance and easily one of the top 7 of Douglas’ career. Last, but certainly not least this section would be woefully lacking if I didn’t talk about the work done by Charlie Sheen’s real-life dad Martin in the integral role of Bud’s father Carl. Indeed the senior Sheen does a fantastic job here of playing a character who consistently through the movie strives to not only possess an unwavering degree of integrity, but also to be a moral example for his son to be more like rather than the quick buck artists (Gekko included) he has chosen to surround himself around. Yes I know they also were thinking of casting Jack Lemmon in this part, but I definitely feel casting Martin gives the relationship between Carl and Bud a degree of authenticity that it might not have had otherwise. Suffice it to say that when you incorporate into the mix wonderful efforts from such talented individuals as Daryl Hannah, Hal Holbrook, John C. McGinley, James Karen, Sean Young, James Spader, Saul Rubinek, Franklin Cover, Sylvia Miles, Millie Perkins, Josh Mostel, Paul Guilfoyle, and even a brief yet pivotal role for Terrence Stamp among others it’s clear that this slice of cinema might have some issues scattered about, but thankfully the work done by this undeniably eclectic yet talented group of individuals is most assuredly not one of them by any means.
All in all and at the end of the trading day is Wall Street a completely and utterly flawless in every way imaginable and then some cinematic outing? Sadly as much as I would like to be able to tell you that I am afraid that is not the case though not for lack of effort by any stretch of the imagination on the part of either the cast or crew involved in bringing it to life for us as movie goers to enjoy. With that being said, is this the worst cinematic deal that any of the people who brought this slice of cinema to life have made during the course of their respective careers? Oh no. Not by a long shot. With that in mind though, if you think that I’m sure I could introduce you to such movies as 2014’s And So It Goes, Lost & Found from 1999, and whatever the heck has been going on with Charlie Sheen and Daryl Hannah’s filmographies the past few years though I can’t exactly guarantee you that will be a conversation worth having. All sarcastic comments aside, there is no denying that Wall Street is a film that has components to it which won’t exactly be everyone’s specific cinematic bill of fare. Indeed not only can a fair amount of the terminology utilized be confusing to those who are not a part in some way of the world that these characters inhabit, but the story itself is one that you can definitely predict more than a few times just where in the world it is going to go to say nothing of the fact that a lot of the characters, despite the efforts by the undeniably talented individuals embodying those respective roles, aren’t given a significant amount of narrative material to really work with. With that being said however, there is also no denying that the work done in the director’s chair by Oliver Stone is fantastic, the script as penned by Stone and Stanley Weiser is well-written and thought-provoking, the cinematography is definitely on-point, the score is wonderful, and the performances in front of the camera (with particular regard to the ones provided by Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, and Martin Sheen) are all in synch with the work done behind the camera despite the aforementioned narrative substance inequality. Suffice it to say then that it’s not a perfect deal by any stretch, but with the aid of fairly solid work on both sides of the camera all the same Wall Street “87” is still one cinematic deal that you should definitely, unlike some of the deals made by our intrepid hero here, consider signing the dotted line on time and time again. Make of that what thou will dear reader and always remember: Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel. On a scale of 1-5 I give Wall Street “87” a solid 4 out of 5.
