Certainly NOT all bark and no bite

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2013)

I can't remember the last time I've had as much fun at a movie as The Wolf of Wall Street since The Departed. In recent memory, only The Avengers comes to mind. But what makes The Wolf of Wall Street such a success is that it shows Martin Scorsese doing what he does best. He takes the tale of Jordan Belfort, an intelligent yet mischievous stockbroker who was very skilled at swindling stocks, manipulating the stockmmarket, and turns it into the cinematic equivalent of an injection of coke, meth, heroin, codeine, aderall and a number of uppers and downers- all at once. In other words, it's a crazy, wild ride. And if this were any other filmmaker, it wouldn't have turned out as well as it did, nor would I have been able to sit through it for two hours, let alone the three hours that The Wolf of Wall Street runs. But this is Scorsese, folks. His films are famous for effectively blending in substance and style in equal parts, and this film is no different at all.
Perhaps the most memorable thing about The Wolf of Wall Street is, and face it, you saw this coming, Leo DiCaprio's performance. You probably already knew DiCaprio would give an amazing performance, but here he gives his best yet. He completely snaps into character and gives a bravura performance that's completely real. From the opening scenes alone, where he gives an almost Patrick Batemanesque introspective into his life and career, his cars, his home, his past time pleasures such as excessive drug use and drugged out chaos, sex with hookers and what have you, you're in the palm of his hand. The scenes where he talks to the camera about certain subjects is where you can see the amount of confidence he has bursting at the scenes. His David Tennant style delivery of his speeches to his staff at Stratton Oakmont just shows he was born to play this role. It's a tricky role to take on too, as his character is involved in tons of debauchrous situations; but the aforementioned confidence of DiCaprio is what keeps it believable.
And in general, just how well the essence of the story is captured is unbelievable. The film runs a mammoth 3 hours, and is a lot to take in. However, it's so entertaining that you could sit and watch and be entertained if it ran an hour longer. In fact, I'm pretty amazed that they even fit this all in in three hours. A lot of things happen in the story, and they're all tremendous. In fact, direction wise, Scorsese's DNA is splashed all over this film too. The scene where Belfort is caught for his crimes mid-commercial filming is absolutely hilarious; the slow motion shots with narration about things such as how certain drugs work are charming, in a sort of filthy and debauchrous way too. There's funny scenes a- plenty, such as a long gag involving a high from an extreme drug made with lemon extract (how DiCaprio and Hill managed to hold it together in the face during these scenes is amazing, even). And the trademark "Scorsese timing", where scenes are swiftly paced and smartly blocked is on full display as well. So it goes to say that Scorsese has made yet another substantial and directorial masterpiece.
In short, The Wolf of Wall Street is without a doubt a late must-see and contender for "best of the year". Of the last batch of movies to be released this year, this sure drew the year to a satisfying close, and we can only hope that this will get the academy awards it deserves. Do yourselves a favour too and see this on the big screen, with a packed audience. I saw it this afternoon, and the packed crowd was one of the best audiences I've experienced- much like my first time seeing The Departed. It certainly benefits from the big screen experience. And just one more thing: Academy, if you're reading this review, do us all a favour and give Leo his Oscar NOW! He's truly earned it with this film.