The Wolf of Wall Street

This week I might have time to post twice but let’s start with what I promised. The wolf of wall street was not exactly what I could genuinely call a hot potato but I have to admit that it was definitely not as good as I thought it would be. It is about the life of Jordan Belfort played by Leonardo Di Caprio. Jordan after losing his job as a stock broker ends up working in a small company selling penny stocks. He manages to earn a small fortune since penny stocks have a much larger commission than the blue chips and at this point he meets Danny Porush (Jonah Hill) his future main partner. He decides to start his own company and trains his colleagues how to persuade ignorant innocents to invest their savings in penny stocks. Soon the company starts attracting hundreds of ambitious wall street young predators. Jordan on his way up becomes addicted to pills and cocaine, breaks up with his first wife and marries Naomi a typical Barbie. Meanwhile FBI starts investigating Jordan’s dirty business and finally after two years arrests him and shuts down his company. Naomi divorces him and takes full custody of their daughter. Jordan ends up in prison though doing short time and at the end we see him giving seminars on sales techniques. Leonardo Di Caprio righteously was nominated for best performance in a leading role but also righteously lost the golden statue because of Matthew McConaughey. He has made much better movies than the wolf of Wall Street (blood diamond, the departed) but unfortunately he has not been particularly favoured by the academy and although he has been nominated for an Oscar four times he keeps leaving the golden hall empty handed.

Firstly the movie in my opinion is painfully long, almost three hours is more than enough to make you halfway lose your interest for the film. I really like Martin Scorsese and a few of his films are in my list of favourites but this time he did not make something new and original, he just repeated himself and if you have seen goodfellas you already know what I mean. Scorsese took the same recipe and applied it to new standards. Goodfellas is about the rise and fall of a notorious gangster starting in the 50-60’s until the 80’s in America played by Ray Liotta. The two stories have parallel plots and end up with similar ways. Young ambitious men rising up the ladder of corruption with any possible way become addicted to drugs and at the end in both cases are being busted by the FBI and forced to snitch to save their pitiful little arses.

I really liked goodfellas but after I saw the wolf of wall street I just felt that I watched a repetition with Di Caprio replacing Liotta. Also another common thing between these two movies is the female roles and the way they affect the scenario. My last observation is about the scoring, something was definitely wrong and although I have to admit my knowledge is limited on this field I definitely didn’t like the scene when the FBI makes arrests in the entire company and at the back plays Mrs Robinson. I might sound picky but something simply wasn’t matching, it is like having in the same plate chocolate chip brownies and smocked salmon. I had high expectations for the film but I ended up leaving the room feeling disappointed.  Overall it is a good movie; well made, with excellent performances but if you have seen goodfellas I believe that you also feel a little bit disappointed.