Indeed, when I first watched the trailer, I was already attracted and excited about the movie. But here the marketing campaign talks; a fancy Kanye West song, a dynamic editing and a good concept that makes all works.
So I was expecting a craziness pushed so far that you have to feel uncomfortable about it.
The eternal duo between money and power can bring greatness but also the worst when they are handled by non reliable and immature people. What I think is interesting, is the way up to the way down of these extremes, especially the triggers that makes the main character turns.
To be honest, as Scorsese did in his former movies (SHUTTER ISLAND, AVIATOR), the film is based on Leonardo DiCaprio performance. The actor has definitely the stature to manage it, not to say that this is a 3 hours feature long! Thanks to this A-list actor, you will enjoy how his character is “à contre-emploi” and plays weird and non enhancive situations that threaten the myth.
Actually, I felt I was more watching DiCaprio that Jordan Belford’s true story. As if, the actor erased his own character.
But is it really a risky play? Frankly, I’m not quite sure, as I never felt any pathetic state of his going down. It was always on the edge of controlling un-control with his wealthy dandy attitude, like Gatsby on the dark side. The fragility of the character seems to be very superficial.
For example, when you witness his 5 minutes under substances crawling across his house which is the very bottom of his existence, your feel more fun than pity.
Money flows, money flows.. but no emotions.
Maybe, the only time I felt this sickness, was when the young and naive Jordan Belford faced his mentor played by Matthew McConaughey. I mean, all the meaning of the movie is summed up in this scene!
To me, what brings the most substance to the film is his face to face dialogues and the “to the camera” comments; well, with 3 hours, you could have told much more!
Probably, Scorsese did not want to, obliging us to watch, contemplate and passively be accomplice of this decadence that puts away all meaning of life.
Money talks, but to say nothing; it fills the ambitions with emptiness.
That is why I am not completely embarked by the movie because I could’t really know where it stands. It’s not even surprising. Well, if you have watched WALL STREET 1987, WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS 2010 and PROJECT X 2012 you have a good panoramic view of what is going on here.
Of course, it worths your interest, just for following this Scorsese/ DiCaprio duo, the intriguing Jean Dujardin apparition, and watch all of them having fun making the film.
To sum up, this is just entertainment.
