The collapse of the global economy back in 2007-08 is often cited as the biggest worst financial crisis since the Great Recession, and The Big Short is one of the earliest movies to dissect it in any kind of meaningful way. It doesn’t portray a rosy picture, but it is sharp, incisive and informative, while also throwing in enough entertainment value to keep you hooked in to the bitter end.
If we’re being cynical about it, we’d have to say that the focus on Miami strippers and the random inclusion of Margot Robbie explaining subprime loans in a bubble bath is a blatant attempt at sexing up the film and trying to tap into the success of The Wolf Of Wall Street. However, it does sort of work as a clever way of keeping your attention when trying to get across the ridiculously convoluted realities of financial systems. It’s these very same systems that the banks and government failed to pay attention to properly, which led to the global financial crisis. If they’d had strippers and an Aussie screen siren emphasising the points back during the 2000s maybe we wouldn’t have been quite so royally shafted.
The story is based on the real life events of a number of financial wheelers, dealers, sentinels and savants who picked up on the US housing bubble and set about making arrangements to bet against the market, AKA to short it. With credit default swaps in place with large banking institutions in place, all they had to do is wait for the market to default and they make out like bandits. The trouble is that as well as profiting from the stupidity of the banks, they also profit from the misery of the people that suffered as a result of the economic crisis that followed.
It makes for compelling viewing though, which is no easy feat considering the dry nature of the topic at the centre of the plot. The dialogue is tight with great lines and onscreen interaction from the cast, and the delivery is stylish without being overly stylised to create a fascinating film with good humour, incisive insight and smart cameo interjections from the likes of Selena Gomez and Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad).
Our favourite character from The Big Short is one-eyed, autistic-spectrum hedge fund manager, Michael Burry, who adamantly predicts the onset of the big bubble burst, despite the antagonistic criticism of his financial backers. Played brilliantly by Christian Bale (The Dark Knight Rises) it’s a role that is far removed from what we’ve come to expect from the Welsh actor and he plays it to perfection throughout.
The film is littered with similar unlikely casting that works incredibly well to build a believable storyline based on strong performances. Brad Pitt (World War Z 2) is cleverly understated as retired securities trader Ben Rickert, while Ryan Gosling (The Nice Guys) is front personified as fast talking, city slicker bond salesman Jared Vannett. Gosling also does the majority of the narration in the same fast talking style, which helps to move the film along at a good tempo.
Steve Carell (Freeheld) is decent enough as hedge fund manager Mark Baum, but ultimately he just looks a bit too much like Steve Carell playing a frustrated Wall Street fat cat. He doesn’t quite delve into the character enough to get under his skin, which is surprising considering how incredible he was as John du Pont in Foxcatcher.
Though the film is a good watch, and maybe even worth a little DVD replay value, it does seem to hold a little candle to the clever traders that benefitted from the pin prick aftermath, while showing the bankers and the government mechanisms behind them as being at fault for the financial collapse. It works a little too hard to make them look like heroes, while also showing a little repentant spirit in the final furlong of the heavily tipped race. However, for us it would have been a little more accurate if it showed them all as being a part of the same self-serving snakes and lizards circus that is the modern day financial system.
That aside, Adam McKay (Ant-Man (2015)) has done a very good job of making The Big Short such an absorbing and enlightening flick. The DVD doesn’t come with any special feature or extras, so if you want to delve into the detail of the characters and real life situation that inspired the film then you might want to opt for the Blu-ray release, which does include the extras.
The Big Short DVD review: 4.1/5
