The first thing I noticed about “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," is how much it harkened back to the original movie. Yes, the story is supposedly centered on the new couple Winnie Gekko and Jake Moore, played by hot young stars Carey Mulligan and Shia LaBeouf, but in reality, the star of the film is, and could only ever be, Michael Douglas, as Gordon Gekko. 

Of course, “Money Never Sleeps" can be viewed independently of the first film, as it deals with its own unique plotline quite deftly. In the first few minutes, however, we are introduced to a man in jail who picks up, among other things, a silk handkerchief and a huge brick of a phone. Who else could this man be? The Gekko is back, but the years in prison have left him haunted and gutted, longing for something that money could not give him. He waits outside the prison boundaries alone, watching his fellow releasees run joyously into the arms of their family members. Could it be that Gordon Gekko is a changed man? 

That is a question that the film explores in full detail, as Jake and Winnie grapple with their own, and mostly separate, relationships with Gordon. Mulligan plays his estranged daughter who remains suspicious of her father’s motives and afraid of reconnecting with a man whom she blames for her brother’s death. LaBeouf plays the role of a young Wall Streeter interested in revenging both the death of his mentor and the possibly illegal acquisition of the firm he had worked for. 

Gekko, meanwhile, is shown as a shadow of his former self: he is living in a rented apartment that hints at a familiar ill-decorated joint, greets financial bigwigs and receives no recognition and has author signings at Borders for his new book, a meditation on greed and human behavior. This Gekko ends his book lecture on the ills of greed with this pitch: “Buy my book!” His reformation seems complete when he agrees to help Jake take down the slimy Bretton James (played by a surly Josh Brolin), who made millions upon millions by betting against his own company and creating false rumors that brought down Jake’s; in short, James did something that the old Gekko might have approved in the name of greed. To understate, prison does things to a man, and Gekko is overcome with the desire to make good with the family he has left and help out legitimate and socially beneficial interests; the nuclear fusion company that Jake is trying to find investors for becomes Gekko’s main cause. 

In the interest of not spoiling the movie, I’ll only say that Gekko’s motives are as fluid as you’d expect them to be. In any case, the man is indeed different, and the movie makes that point as strongly as possible.

The “Gekko as a family man” subplot is the most tedious part of the film. Yes, LaBeouf and Mulligan are welcome additions to the cast, but they’re not truly the reason the audience is there: they are there for Mr. Gekko, and the revelation that was the original “Wall Street”. Director Oliver Stone tackled ‘80s corporate manhandling with ingenuity and above all, a glitter that made the financial, technical parts of the movie riveting. He tries to do the same here, again cutting footage of boardroom meetings alongside rivers of champagne and shots of slim ankles in towering heels. Brian Eno and David Byrne collaborate on the soundtrack, further infusing the film with an admittedly delicious ‘80s vamp. Hell, Bud Fox even shows up again, although thankfully, Darien does not. 

If you begin to think that “Money Never Sleeps” is a two-hour jaunt of family issues and welcomed ‘80s nostalgia, remind yourself once more of the overarching plot line: the financial crisis. Stone weaves actual news coverage of the ’08-’09 meltdown into the narrative, and the story’s explanation of the crash, while much less complicated than the actual events leading up to the financial collapse, does a thorough job of conveying a true disdain for the corporate elite. The head bankers all don sharply tailored suits while sitting in intricately carved chairs at long rectangles of burnished wood. 

Brolin’s character is particularly vilified, as he plays the part of a man who is both assured of his success and not particularly interested in anybody else’s; he is the kind of man who keeps Goya’s “Saturn Devouring His Children” in his office just because he knows it’s unsettling for his visitors. He looks out for his own interests above all, even if this means screwing over other companies, his own company, and the US government.

With these demonizations aside, however, Stone grasps the essence of the collapse. If nothing else, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” is a simplified, or rather more idealized, breakdown of the most recent financial crisis. “Greed is good?” Greed is what fueled the meltdown, on the part of the corporation as well as the individual, represented most keenly in the film by Josh’s needy and desperate real-estate agent mother.

The film begins and ends with meditations on bubbles, both the geological and financial kinds, and the insanity of not learning from past mistakes or not being prepared for the unforeseeable consequences of the fast-paced, blindly-moving present. This is a message that should be thoroughly ingrained in the audience’s brain by the end of the film, but that is sadly obscured by Stone’s need to focus on Gekko the cult character. 

Reach reporter Lily Min here.