Released: December 11, 2987
Director: Oliver Stone
*****
The brilliance of arguably Oliver Stone's seminal film is its pace. Wall Street is an unrelenting, balls to the wall, keep up or you're lost two hour theater production. From the instant the movie begins straight through to the end, the story does not stop to explain the mechanics, personal relationships or stockbroker language. It dives head on into the rise and fall of Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) at the hands of Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas, Oscar winner for his role here), demands the audience keep up and never looks back.
I call this a theater production because the narrative is never contingent on splashy special effects, locations or the ability to go outside. It is, from start to finish, about people. Fox transforms right before our eyes from a naive newcomer to Gekko, Jr. Notice how he answers the phone, dresses and talks to people as the movie progresses. And Douglas may never have a role like Gekko, one that lets him stop just short of all out villany in his quest to be the most wealthy, most powerful and altogether best. But it all, ultimately comes back to the story. Stone allows us to understand and follow along without stopping to give us a primer on the industry.
Fox and Gekko engage us from the start, as does a roster of supporting characters played by Martin Sheen, Sean Young, Darryl Hannah, Hal Holbrook and John McGinley. What each of them bring to the finished production is depth, soul and reality. It's not enough just to move the main plot from A to B to C. We have to buy into Wall Street as a real world, which we do thanks to a 2+ hour running time and easily recognizable character archetypes. Not that I'm complaining: any more substance and Wall Street might collapse in on itself. This isn't an easy movie to watch and remain engaged in; even Gekko's legendary "Greed...is good" line tends to be too full of itself to be completely affecting. And it isn't until the final credits roll do we honestly know what has transpired.
One notable detriment to the production is Hannah, completely out of her element in a sleazy, fast paced film. She exudes negative charm, if that's even possible, making us want her interior designer Darien Taylor to drop off the face of the film as quickly as she enters. Hers is a small role, something which adds to the themes of the film, yet not much more. It's a case of "hangers on," people on board for the ride until they fear for themselves. Either she was given very bad direction from Stone (unlikely, based on the other actors), there is no character for her (more likely, considering she is one of three women with any appreciable lines) or she's just a bad actress (the best explanation).