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Wall Street Movie Review

Wall Street is a 1987 drama film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen and Martin Sheen. It’s a flawed, but obviously important film.

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“The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed,

for lack of a better word, is good“

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An impatient young stockbroker is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless, greedy corporate raider who takes the youth under his wing. This is one of those movies that are more important than truly great as a piece of cinema. The pacing is overly slow, the character count is too large and the movie lacked focus and discipline throughout, feeling a bit chaotic and disorganized.

With that being said, the movie worked in the stellar central relationship between Douglas and Sheen, a sort of teacher-mentor dynamic that was a lot of fun. The ending tied things up too neatly and positively and I would have preferred a darker conclusion to this particular story, but the points were made against greed and the culture of chasing money and thrills very effectively. It’s demoralizing to think that this movie actually influenced people to become stockbrokers instead of dissuade them from it.

Michael Douglas got an Oscar for his strong turn as the iconic Gordon Gekko and he deserved it, though I have to say that this was category fraud as he was a supporting player undoubtedly. But Douglas effortlessly played this greedy, almost inhuman man who felt like a very real villain for this era in particular.

Daryl Hannah was less effective, but her role was pretty solid. Martin Sheen being cast as the father to the protagonist as he is in real life was an inspired choice and their dynamic was excellent. As for Charlie Sheen, this is one of his biggest roles and he was pretty good in it. I was never his fan, but I did find him to be pretty effective and believable as the disillusioned Bud.

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Oliver Stone directed Wall Street with a lot of forcefulness and vigor, but the dialogue was at times a bit too simplistic. The characterization was strong, but the movie could have been more visual instead of preachy in its messaging. It also could have been brisker and more engaging overall.