THE
WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013)
USA,
179 Mins
Dir: Martin Scorsese
I know I promised to review my all-time
favourite movie this week which was becoming a musical, so don’t panic, they’re
certainly not turning The Wolf Of Wall
Street into a musical! Just I had the opportunity to catch this film at the
cinemas last week, & thought to review it while it’s still relatively fresh
in the mind! You’ll just have to hold on for an extra week for my review of my
favourite film! J
The Wolf Of Wall Street is based on
the true story & memoir of Jordan Belfort – a New York stockbroker that
rose to huge fame & wealth, only to fall foul of the law in his
controversial career ways, & wind up losing almost everything. Leonardo
DiCaprio plays the star role of Belfort, producing an arguably career-best
performance here (& mind what I said of his effort in Titanic a few weeks
ago) in his 5th collaboration with famed director Martin Scorsese.
The film also boasts the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill &
Australia’s own Margot Robbie, and a big step up from appearing in Neighbours
to this role as Belfort’s wife Naomi.
The film tracks Belfort’s start in his
career as a stockbroker, only for the Black Monday Wall St crash of 1987 to
hit, causing him to lose his job. He uses his aggressive sales techniques in
penny stocks to establish a business along with friend Donnie Azoff (Jonah
Hill), & the firm soon goes from strength to strength. We witness life at
the top of the tree as a lifestyle of sex, drugs & rock n roll is enjoyed
by Belfort & his companions. But his questionable techniques soon draw the
attention of the law, & this forces Jordan to go to more extreme measures
to wide his wealth & dubious ways by opening a Swiss bank account. When one
of his operatives is arrested, Jordan has the chance to confess to some smaller
level crimes & essentially hold on to his millions, & model wife.
However, he elects to continue pouring his efforts into making money, &
soon the consequences of his actions catch up with him & he is forced to
co-operate with the law in order to avoid a more severe jail term, thus
resulting in the end of his company.
This is a very engrossing film, well
worth of its Oscar nominations – I hardly registered that it went for 3 hours. As
someone not overly familiar with the story of Jordan Belfort, I was really interested
in how someone could have so much yet still want more. Like I said before,
DiCaprio gives an amazing performance as Belfort – in my opinion, you may as
well hand over the Oscar to him now, ain’t nothing topping this performance
here! Margot Robbie also gives a fantastic performance – look out for her to become
a big Hollywood name in the next year or two!
All that being said, this film
certainly is not for everyone! It well & truly earns its “R” rating here –
in fact I believe it set a new record for the number of “F” words in a feature
film! There is no holding back in revealing to the audience the rich &
famous lifestyle that Jordan Belford becomes accustomed to. So if you are
easily offended by sex, drugs or coarse language, you will probably want to
give this film a miss.
For the more mature minded film goer
however, The Wolf Of Wall Street is an engrossing, captivating & very open
look at the life of Jordan Belfort. Nominated for 5 Academy Awards in total including
Best Picture, & still screening at most decent cinemas, the film is well
worth a look. I’m actually very intrigued to go out & read the book which
the film is also based on too. I’m
giving The Wolf Of Wall Street ****
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