Has the Gekko changed its spots? On the back of the realities of the economic crash of 2008 and the resulting global recession, Oliver Stone decided to reprise his eighties classic, Wall Street, along with the star of the original, Michael Douglas, as the infamous Gordon Gekko. His first ever sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps hit the cinemas on 24th September 2010.
Set 23 years after the opening film, Money Never Sleeps starts with the release of Gordon Gekko from prison. It charts his reformed character’s unsuccessful attempts to warn Wall Street about the oncoming economic downturn and market crash of 2008, before moving on to his attempts to reconnect with his daughter Winnie, played by Carey Mulligan (An education).
Shia LaBeouf (Transformers Dark Side of the Moon) also plays a big part in the film as a sort of protégé figure for Gekko, taking up the reigns were Charlie Sheen left off. He plays Winnie’s fiancé Jakob Moore, a high flying wall street trader himself. Together, Jake and Gekko dook it out with Bretton James, a villainous hedge fund manager, played by Josh Brolin (Gangster Squad), while attempting to bring the family back together in time for the recession.
The movie also stars Frank Langella (Robot and Frank) as Jake’s other mentor, Louis Zabel, the managing director of his investment company.
How well the film worked out depended largely on the interaction between the characters. It’s worth remembering that LaBeouf doesn’t have a good track record with sequels or character rehashes. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen paled into comparison against its predecessor and his outing with Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones was a shocker in all fairness.
Although, looking on the bright side, maybe Wall Street Money Never Sleeps is an early sign of a potential LaBeouf and Douglas double up on a sequel to the Romancing the Stone classics too. Still no word on this, sadly, but we live in hope.
