Rating: ★★★
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| ©thewolfofwallstreet.com |
Since hitting the UK big screen in early 2014, The Wolf Of
Wall Street has become a box office sensation, topping both America and the UK.
Directed by the great auteur Martin Scorsese and featuring big names such as
the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey
and Jonah Hill; the film was guaranteed to become a huge success. Yet with
explicit scenes of sex, swearing and drug taking, the film has caused outrage
to many, leading us to question, is this film just one big fantasy orgy or is
there more than meets the eye?
Based on a true story, big-time dreamer Jordan Belfort
(DiCaprio) takes on a stockbroker job in Wall Street, looking to rake in
dollars and fuel his addiction to money. Here he meets his maverick boss Mark
Hanna (McConaughey) who tells him the only way to succeed
in this business is through hookers and drugs. So Belfort follows in his
footsteps, eventually starting up his own brokerage with pal Donnie
(Jonah Hill) - Stratton Oakmont Inc. However, the business is not all above board,
scamming small companies, engaging in fraud and money laundering. With the cops
becoming ever more suspicious, Belfort and colleagues strive to escape the eyes
of the law, with the ever present lure of money preventing a clean break. Inevitability
they were caught; Belfort serving his time.
The film also portrays Belfort's severe addictions with
incessant scenes of sex and drug taking. Understandably Scorsese chose these
scenes for shock factor, in order to depict the depths of his addictions.
Nevertheless these graphic scenes are too recurrent and take over from the
fantastic storyline. They became unnecessary, and simply quite boring at times,
only a few of these type scenes were needed in order to get the message across.
These recurring scenes cause the film to have a prolonged running time of three
lengthy hours! I'm no feminist, but 3 hours of sex and drug scenes is just a
tad too much. If Scorsese cut just a few of these needless scenes out of the
movie, the running time would decrease to a more suitable time of approximately
2 hours. It has recently been announced that the DVD version will even longer,
totalling to an intense 4 hours long! (see
here to read the full story) Good luck to those who decide to dedicate
their day to watching that. Yet it's not so much about the length of the film,
but the amount of false hope you are given over and over again when you think the
film is about to end. 2 hours in, it appears that Belfort is close to being
caught by the law, and then suddenly manages to escape them. This is the
consistent occurrence until the very end of the film.
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| ©moviestillsdb |
However, let's not dwell on the bad things because the
acting in this film is award-winning, proven by DiCaprio's Oscar nomination.
DiCaprio is no doubt one of the best actors of our generation. Although he
plays such an unlikeable character, he still manages to influence the audience
into empathising with Belfort at times. He makes the characters so realistic,
even in side-splitting scenes like when Belfort and Donnie overdose on expired
Quaaludes, dragging himself across the floor and speaking gibberish. Over the
years Leonardo DiCaprio has repeatedly been robbed of an Oscar, he is one of
the most deserving actors of this award; hopefully with his tremendous
performance this will be his year. Alongside DiCaprio there were other
fantastic performances. Jonah Hill exceeded expectations, he has always been a
comedic actor and once again played a laughable character, but gave so much
more to his performance, resulting in an Oscar nomination for supporting actor.
After this movie, Jonah is definitely one to watch.
The film also featured small roles from top British actress
Joanna Lumley and heart-throb Matthew McConaughey like
you've never seen him before. Although they only appear in the film for a short
period their scenes are unforgettable.
At 71 years of age, Martin Scorsese shows that he's still
got it! With such an original, quirky movie Scorsese is still a top auteur. He
merely needs to ensure he prioritises
the storyline over unnecessary scenes which drag out the film. The Wolf Of Wall
Street is not one for the prudes or feminists, but definitely a film to watch!
Just make sure you're prepared to be sat in the movie theatre for what seems
like a very long time.
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