A derivative film about breaking the bank, also breaks the fourth wall too!

Rating: Null/10 (25 January 2016)

This Paramount film tells the story of how the sub-prime crisis lead to a banking crisis and collapse in 2008, followed by a world-wide recession. As the trailers show, the tale is told by following a few odd-ball characters connected to the financial markets, who do not accept the orthodox perceived wisdom.
The story starts with Michael Burry a physically and socially handicapped fund manager who obsessively investigates the figures and numbers in the property market. We viewers are given explanations, via the fourth wall, that help us to understand the subject, whilst also being entertaining. We discover bankers have bundled up mortgages, called securitization, and then sold them, the derivatives, as assets. However these are bundled, and re-bundled, and include mortgages known as sub-prime. These assets were sold as AAA (triple A) but in reality were not. The sub-prime tranches (parts) diluted the AAA tranches. Michael Burry realizes this and invests (basically by betting against this) to earn money if there is a default. Others also discover this and also invest likewise.
Michael Burry, the odd-ball financial-whiz is played by Christian Bale. His character is not a normal Wall Street guy, physical deformity has made him socially awkward, so he spends all of his time in his office, crunching numbers, as he listens to loud rock music.
Sadly, the loud music, we also get some unnecessary rap music later too, detracts from the enjoyment of the film.
Another flaw of this film, and it is a massive one, is the appalling camera work. The use of the fourth wall, so characters can give viewers explanations, is essential for this film, and was done very well. No criticism of that. Or for some real-life stock-footage. It is everything else that is dire. The camera swoops and swings wildly and out of focus. The filming is at times very poor, often fairly poor, and thus this also makes for some very uncomfortable viewing. This film is interesting because of it's subject matter, but not for film quality. To see great filming, go and see 'The Revenant', also out in 2016. the comparison between the two films is night and day.
Christian Bale is very good in his role, losing himself in it, as he did in 'The Prestige' (2006), and also in 'American Hustle' (2013) in which he was unrecognizable. In the recent 'Black Mass' (2015) gangster film, Johnny Depp used fake contact lenses to portray Whitey Bulger's piercing light blue eyes. Christian Bale is not made up to show his physical handicap, which is a shame, as it thus makes less of it to us viewers. Certainly a rich fund manager could pay for top quality, and no doubt he did, but for us to see, and feel, his pain, a more physically obvious handicap would have been better. This is not to slight Christian Bale who acts well to show his physical handicap, and his resultant Dr Sheldon Cooper-like social awkwardness.
Steve Carell, who was excellent in 'Seeking a Friend for the End of the World' (2012), here plays another uptight banking figure who also becomes aware of the financial situation. In this film, Steve Carell actually has a much bigger role than Christian Bale. It is Mark Baum, played by Steve Carell, and his firm, who take us on the field-trips to Florida and Las Vegas, standout scenes btw, where we see the reality of the situation. Marisa Tomei, in a small role, plays well the part of the wife Cynthia Baum. Miss Tomei, so very recently in 'Christmas with the Coopers' (2015), here in a very different role, does some very moving scenes with Mr Carell.
Ryan Gosling, previously in 'The Place Beyond the Pines' (2012), plays Jared Vennett, who is also in banking. Although not the biggest of parts, his character is also one of the main players in the story, and it is through him that we are also told the story.
Brad Pitt too, has a small, but decent role, in this film. He is also a Producer too through his Plan B Entertainment. John Magaro and Finn Wittrock, in minor roles, play small-time fund-managers also involved in the story. Byron Mann shines in his one scene, as do Max Greenfield from 'New Girl' and Al Sapienza (Mikey Palmice from The Sopranos) in theirs.
This film tells a true and sorry story. Banks over-lent and over- borrowed, then they churned their assets. When the sub-prime market collapsed because of fraudulent over-lending, the contagion spread around the world. Sadly, there is no mention of the contribution President Bill Clinton and President George Bush made towards this.
Viewers should not be deterred from viewing by lack of financial knowledge. The film does it's best to explain matters in as simple a way as possible. This it does well, sometimes with some very visual examples. Thus we can grasp the general ideas fairly well and so understand the financial crash of 2008, the effects of which we are still feeling today. So this educational film is well worth seeing. It does have some humour too. Those who like comedy, and also desire a primer on the capitalist system, should dig out an old DVD of the classic 'Trading Places' (1983) which gives some explanation as to how markets trade in concentrated orange juice and pork bellies. Others may also enjoy the more recent 'Margin Call' (2011), which is a serious film that also deals with the same 2008 bank crash. 8/10.