October 6, 2010 -- In Oliver Stone's sequel to his 1987, his central character, Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas, reprising his role from the first film) turns from villain to hero, well maybe not hero, but better than the other scumbags on Wall Street who made out like bandits with government bailout money after the stock market crash of 2008. The bailout plays a central role in this film. It is not really clear what the reason for the bailout was, except to prevent a depression like the Great Depression of the 1930s, of course. What is clear is who the villains are. Gordon Gekko is not the villain this time. In fact, he warns investors about the coming disaster, but no one listens, because, as he says in a speech, “Everyone's drinking the same Kool Aid.”

When Gekko gets out of prison there is nobody waiting for him, not even his own daughter, Winnie (played by Carey Mulligan of “Brothers”). Winnie blames her father for the death of her brother and has disowned him. Winnie is living with a Wall Street insider, Jake Moore (played by Shia LaBeouf of the “Transformer” movies), a trader at the Wall Street firm of Keller Zabel Investments (a fictional firm that appears to be like a combination of the real life failed investment banks of Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers). Jake gets interested in Gordon Gekko when he sees that Gekko has written a book about his life in investment and is giving lectures on college campuses. He makes contact with Gekko, who is interested in reconnecting with his daughter, but he also has ulterior motives. He wants revenge and he wants back in the equities trading game. He manipulates Jake into getting him what he wants.

Gekko is not a guy you mess with. His main enemy is Bretton James (played by Josh Brolin of “No Country for Old Men”). James is a partner in the powerful investment bank of Churchill Schwartz (which looks a lot like the real firm of Goldman Sachs). James is the real villain of the story. He has a hand in getting Gekko sent to prison for eight long years and in sinking the firm of Keller Zabel. In gutting Keller Zabel, he effectively eliminates Jake's mentor, senior trading partner Louis Zabel (played by Frank Langella of “Superman Returns”). Jake gets revenge by spreading a rumor which damages an investment held by James. Impressed with Jake's courage, ingenuity and effectiveness in opposing him, he hires Jake to work for him after he has aquired Keller Zabel for pennies on the dollar. When Winnie finds out Jake has been secretly conspiring with her father she rejects both Jake and her father, but not before the resiliant Gordon Gekko cleverly, and underhandedly, gets himself back in the investment business.

For the rest of the film, Winnie, Jake, Gordon and James circle each other warily until their conflicts are resolved. The ends are tied up neatly, a little too neatly for some, but I liked the ending. Gordon Gekko is a scoundrel, but a loveable one. He makes no apologies for what he is, and that makes him a rare man in today's world when everyone seems to have two faces. He is not after the money. What he lives for is the excitement of the high-stakes gambling that is equities trading. Jake and Winnie are naive and idealistic, and I like that. James is an excellent villain. He is without morals. Some say that Oliver Stone (who also appears in the film as an investor) got too many facts wrong in this film, like he did in “JFK.” That may be true, but this isn't a documentary, and he also got a lot of the facts right. What may anger some is that Stone doesn't buy into the popular myth that the bailout was unnecessary, that's just wishful thinking. It was necessary. That's not to say it could not have been done better.

The performances are solid. The best performance is by Mulligan, who displays both strength and vulnerability. Douglas is wonderful as Gordon Gekko, the loveable scoundrel. Douglas has a knack for portraying villains with a soft side, which he also did very well in his recent performance in “Solitary Man.” Langella is also strong in his performance as the haunted, exhausted banker at the end of his rope, Louis Zabel. A very elderly Eli Wallach plays Jules Steinhardt a senior partner at Churchill Schwartz. Wallach keeps making these weird bird-like noises, along with a chilling warning about another depression (Wallach is perhaps the only member of the cast who actually lived through the entire Great Depression). In the end, however, as in the film “Wall Street,” the character everyone will remember will be Gordon Gekko. Get well, Mike. This film rates a B.

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