Wall Street Reviews

Oliver Stone opted for a change of direction following the Oscar-winning success of his Vietnam War drama Platoon with this stylish morality tale about insider trading — a topical subject at the time. Charlie Sheen gives a believable performance as the gullible broker who's prepared to break the law in pursuit of riches, and he's matched by his father Martin (also playing his screen father) as the blue-collar union representative who takes a dim view of his son's wheeler-dealing. Stealing the show, however, is Oscar winner Michael Douglas, who is memorable as ruthless corporate raider Gordon Gekko. Unusually, Stone's trademark neurotic camera movements actually seem appropriate here as the film details the titanic struggle for good over greed.

Almost documentary in its detailed account of financial skulduggery but slipping ultimately into sentimentality, the film is marked by a brilliant performance from Michael Douglas as the scheming megalomaniac Gordon Gekko.

"...Douglas puts his character's ideas across with such seductive self-assurance that conservatives could easily ignore the irony..."

Oliver Stone opted for a change of direction following the Oscar-winning success of his Vietnam War drama Platoon with this stylish morality tale about insider trading — a topical subject at the time. Charlie Sheen gives a believable performance as the gullible broker who's prepared to break the law in pursuit of riches, and he's matched by his father Martin (also playing his screen father) as the blue-collar union representative who takes a dim view of his son's wheeler-dealing. Stealing the show, however, is Oscar winner Michael Douglas, who is memorable as ruthless corporate raider Gordon Gekko. Unusually, Stone's trademark neurotic camera movements actually seem appropriate here as the film details the titanic struggle for good over greed.

Almost documentary in its detailed account of financial skulduggery but slipping ultimately into sentimentality, the film is marked by a brilliant performance from Michael Douglas as the scheming megalomaniac Gordon Gekko.

"...Douglas puts his character's ideas across with such seductive self-assurance that conservatives could easily ignore the irony..."

Remove the restless camera pyrotechnics and incomprehensible jargon, and you have a corny old melo: broker Charlie... read more on Time Out

"...[WALL STREET] is as good a contemporary story as there is today..."