Movie Review: Money Never Sleeps

Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas reprise their scrutiny of Wall Street this week in “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.”

Michael Douglas plays Gordon Gekko, a former corporate raider who spent eight years in jail. Stepping into the new world of 2008, which unknowingly trembles on the edge of a financial meltdown, Gekko looks for ways to make money and reconnect with the only family he has left: his daughter Winnie (). Winnie is as lefty as they come, but her boyfriend Jake (Shia LaBeouf) is a broker in a large investment firm, a capitalist’s capitalist.

Jake wants to make money, but he also has a soul. You can tell because his pet project involves a laser fusion power plant that somehow potentially makes energy out of seawater. It’ll make money and save the environment. When Jake’s mentor is driven to suicide by corporate shenanigans, he feels a deep thirst for revenge and for profit. Although Winnie wants nothing to do with her father, Jake senses in him the power, knowledge, and resolve to accomplish his dark desire. For his part, Gekko is nothing if he’s not throwing around billions of dollars. He’ll do what it takes to get back in the game, which is exactly what scares Winnie.

Although Stone is a famous lefty who supposedly is opposed to capitalism, it’s refreshing to see a movie that understands the financial system. When banks fail, people lose jobs, people lose houses, people get poorer. Stone points the finger at investment firms that traded in high levels of risky debt as well as at ordinary individuals whose greed caused them to buy houses they couldn’t afford, triggering the financial crisis. The financial bailout of big banks who were “too big to fail” doesn’t fare much better.

Ultimately, however, the film focuses on relationships and the human heart. How far will Gekko and Jake go to accomplish their goals? How many laws are they willing to break? How many betrayals are they willing to make? Money is a jealous mistress who never sleeps, Gekko says, you just might wake up and find her gone. While these are good reflections, the film misses the sure aim of the first film.  In the end, you’ve nodded your head in agreement, but haven’t really learned anything new.

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