Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps: Worth a watch for Douglas

Rating: 3 out of 5*

Starring: Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan, Susan Sarandon and Josh Brolin

Director: Oliver Stone

September 25, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is definitely a worthy sequel that delivers strong performances and that classic Gordon Gekko character that everyone can't get enough of.

After serving time for securities fraud, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) the former King of Wall Street is now a humbled man who has two chances to redeem himself. One involves helping an idealistic young trader named Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf) invest in a promising new green energy source, while the other involves mending his broken relationship with his liberal daughter (Carey Mulligan), who just so happens to be dating Moore. On the surface, Gekko indeed appears to be a changed man - but can a leopard really change its spots?

The first Wall Street (1987) worked well enough as a stand-alone film, but after the economic meltdown of 2008 kick-started the worst recession in modern history, the time was right for director Oliver Stone to once again unleash Gordon Gekko to the world. "Money Never Sleeps" is one of Stone's more straightforward and commercially appealing films in recent years, and it's fascinating to follow the story as the intricate screenplay - written by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff - traces the events that led to the implosion of the investment banks.

It's great to see Douglas reprise one of his most famous roles ever and makes the movie worth a watch. As far as prot駩s go, Shia LaBeouf lacks the edge that Charlie Sheen brought to the role of Bud Fox in the first movie (Sheen reprises his role briefly in "Money Never Sleeps"), but LaBeouf is certainly convincing with a role that transcends his past work (especially in the first two "Transformers" movies). Josh Brolin (who starred in Stone's last movie, "W.") is well cast as the younger Gekko-type investor who initially takes LaBeouf under his wing, but Carey Mulligan struggles a little more with a role that's ridden with father-daughter clich鳮 Susan Sarandon and Frank Langella put in interesting cameos.

As far as sequels go, "Money Never Sleeps" is better than most. There's a surprise twist that may divide moviegoers, and it has an ending that, while abrupt, leaves the door open for a third installment. To that extent, don't rule out another film if "Money Never Sleeps" does well at the box office. After all, greed is still good, especially in Hollywood

-- Sampurn Wire