Outrageously Excessive

Rating: 8/10 (24 August 2014)

You never know just how much you missed someone until they come knocking on your door. And with The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese bulldozes his way through your living room and tears down your house in a shower of dust, debris and Quaaludes. Yeah, lots and lots of Quaaludes. There were groans when Marty announced that his next project would be bringing the book The Wolf of Wall Street to life after being offered it to him by Leonardo Di Caprio. What about his passion project Silence? The Sinatra biopic? Or the long-awaited The Irishman? They seemed so much more interesting than spending two years developing a story that not many people really care or know about. However, it was new. It was a crime film. It was Scorsese. So I was interested. After IMDBing the film for month with the news that 'the mob' would play a heavy part in this story of corruption and greed, I was a little confused by the first trailer. It shows the stars going crazy with sex, drugs and poolside parties. Then the movie's online description changed – 'The mob' description had been moved and the film was now also billed as a comedy. Huh? But I was expecting gangsters in suits and FBI corruption. This mindset did tarnish my first viewing of the film slightly and though I do think TWOWS does have flaws repeated viewings showed me that this film is quite simplybrilliant. Let's start with the cast. As per usual with Scorsese his most questionable casting decisions often turn out to be the best. Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie are excellent. They were really superb. As was Matthew Mcantspellhisname's cameo and the rest of the supporting cast. They all had a real drive of ecstasy that was essential to the tone of the film. I wouldn't be surprised if half of them were on ecstasy while filming. It's like everyone is in on some kind of inside joke with all the tongue-in-cheek performances. The start of the show is of course Leonardo Di Caprio. He is fuelled with so much energy in this and plays off wonderfully with Hill and Robbie. I've never been Di Caprio's biggest fan, and my main criticism of him has usually been a failure to actually become the character. For example, take Scorsese's previous collaborator – Robert De Niro. In his prime he was in films like Taxi Driver, where you don't see Robert De Niro, you see Travis Bickle. The same with Raging Bull – He is Jake LaMotta. In Casino – Sam Rothstein. Heat – Neil McCauley. Once Upon a Time in America – Noodles. And so on and so forth. Back to Di Caprio, and when I watch Shutter Island I only see Di Caprio acting, not Teddy Daniels being. In The Departed, I see Di Caprio acting. In Gangs of New York – Di Caprio. Inception – Di Caprio. Titanic – Di Caprio. There have been some stand-outs such as Blood Diamond, but overall I've never been too impressed with him. However, with the release of Django Unchained and The Wolf of Wall Street he seems to be having more fun than before where he always took serious and moody roles. I've found his performances much more favorable in these and though I still don't think he channeled Jordan Belford, this is the best performance of his career. And anyway, who says the character on screen has to mirror all characteristics from the person on whom it is based?
Full Review: http://cineranter.wordpress.com/2014/05/29/movie-review- the-wolf-of-wall-street/