Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Oliver Stone’s sequel is a needlessly complicated bore that is inferior to the original in every way possible.  The convoluted plot concerns young  proprietary trader, Jake Moore who happens to be dating Gordon Gekko’s estranged daughter.  Jake is out for revenge after his mentor, Louis Zabel, commits suicide as a result of a hostile takeover of his company.  But wait, he’s  also trying to raise money for a fusion research project, which he believes will be an important source of alternative energy in the future.  These are just two of the many story threads that the script practically dares the viewer to follow.  Compounding the cluttered narrative is frequent use of jargon.  Assuming you don’t know what a credit derivative is or what a hedge fund does, I suggest studying up on your financial lexicon before watching this film.  Surprisingly the movie doesn’t have much connection with 1987s Wall Street other than involving Gordon Gekko as part of the cast.  He isn’t even the main villain.  Josh Brolin’s character, Bretton James, the man indirectly responsible for Zabel’s death, holds that distinction. And if all these weaknesses weren’t enough, the action is constantly interrupted by random songs by David Byrne that laughably pop up at the most inopportune times. Numerous subplots, confusing technical terms and extraneous characters.  That’s Money Never Sleeps in a nutshell.