Sensory assault on a completely new level .....

Rating: 8/10 (23 August 2016)

Films like Goodfellas and Casino predicted Wolf of Wall Street in the way Scorsese's films would be made and edited. The voice-over narration talks us through the sensory assault filled with interesting camera angles, fast cuts, violence, beautiful women, scenes of drug abuse, alcoholism, gluttony and even cartoons. The background score is filled with catchy punk rock versions of famous songs. Scorsese takes the sensory assault to another level in Wolf of Wall Street. It is entertaining as hell. But the film does not work in its entirety.
For starters, Di Caprio is no De Niro/Harvey Keitel. I have always been suspicious about Di Caprio's ability to carry a film on his shoulders. I personally think he overacts and is a liability in every single film he has made with Scorsese. He really has not fulfilled the early promise that he showed in Basketball Diaries and This Boy's Life. Somehow he seems to be ill at ease as an adult actor. Jonah Hill has improved a lot and does a decent job as Di Caprio's sidekick. Margot Robbie makes a sensational debut. She is stunningly beautiful and sexy.
I loved the film's ending when Scorsese turns the camera on us. By showing the investigator sweating it out in the subway train and the common people looking earnestly at Jordan Belfort, Scorsese asks us - What do we really want? Can we honestly say that we are repelled by Belfort's lifestyle? Can we? I guess not.
(8/10)