The Wolf of Wall Street

Rating: 9/10 (9 December 2014)

I've always thought that there must be a very good reason for a movie to last 3 hours. " The Wolf of Wall Street" is definitely one 3 hour long movie that makes you resist the urge to want to go pee during the movie. I watched the movie at the cinemas last year when it was out, recently I got bored of the 2014 redundant movies and wanted to watch something thrilling and impacting to cheer myself up. The first movie that came to my mind was " The Wolf of Wall Street". This movie is a thrilling unorthodox Wall Street movie with a comedic and pulp twist which is also based on a real story. The movie is an epic comedy that studies the behavior and cultures of a time in America and the lunatic lifestyles on Wall Street.
" Can you sell this pen now ? " The same question appeared twice in the movie. The first time was when Jordan and Donnie persuaded their team of drug dealers to sell their financial product. At that time the sales answered remarkably, he asked Jordan :" Can you give me your signature?" The second time was at the end of the movie, Jordan was released from prison and was doing a Motivation Speech to a roomful of confused people. The people who answered this time only foolishly described the pen visually or said how good the purpose of the pen was. Well what is the best way to sell something? The answer answered by this movie is to create a need. On the base of this idea the movie is about Jordan Belfort, a con-man, a Wall Street broker, and a billionaire. The story starts about, a young ambitious Wall Street broker that gets involved in drugs, money, and even more drugs during the 80's and 90's. In his tenure trading (and stealing), Jordan marries, divorces, does drugs, marries again, does even more drugs, makes solid friendships, and believe it or not, does a lot more drugs. The Wolf of Wall Street is a black comedy, with splashes of drama. Initial comparisons will fly to Oliver Stone's Wall Street which is accurate but you can see subtle hints of films like American Pie, 21 Jump Street and Pulp Fiction. That's a testament to Scorsese's outstanding direction and Terence Winter's masterful screenplay. Scorsese keeps Wolf life-size, sprinkled with characters that are both geniuses and morons, but functioning morons. Scorsese puts together an all-star cast to inhabit these beings that includes DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Jon Bernathal, and Kyle Chandler.
Leonardo De Caprio is the heart of the film, playing as a daredevil whose motivation seems to be a misguided desire to acquire as much money as possible. After his remarkable performance in Shutter Island, The Great Gatsby and Inception. Leonardo plays again as an intelligent knowledgeable flexible public speaker. 30% of the film is watching Leonardo speak or explain to the audience what he is trying to express. Leonardo truly played this role remarkably true to life. Jonah Hill playing as Donnie Azoff Leonardo's partner in crime, did an incredible job playing as the usual roles that he performs. As everybody should remember Jonah Hill from the movies Superbad or 21 Jump Street, Jonah is this humorous silly sometimes dumb overweight guy which always gets himself in trouble. In this film there was no exception. Jonah's performance truly sprinkles the movie with humorous splashes, and makes the movie more appealing and shocking. Jonah personally gained an Oscar nomination for being the best supporting actor from his excellent performance in this film. He made a lot of sacrifices, for example showing his personal parts to the public, but at the end it was worth it.
What I liked about the movie was how shocking and influencing it is. This movie was like nothing I've ever saw before, it literally introduced a new world to me. For example, when Belfort was opening up his own company in order to sell Penny Stocks, the speeches and marketing techniques that he taught his employees were very educational. Another reason I liked it was because it was could make you laugh all the way through the movie. What I didn't like was that it was a little too vulgar, it had a lot of sexual contents and a lot of drug using contents. Half of the film was about people doing stupid yet meaningful things when they were dosed and drunk. So this film may not be a film that you would watch with your family on a Sunday evening.
I would recommend this film to adults who likes American comedy films. This is a comedy film with a twist of Wall Street, and as it is written according to a true story, it is much more meaningful and some yet educational. If you are under 18 and pulp comedy movies make you feel sick and disgusted, please do not watch this movie.
Overall I'd give this movie a 9 out of 10. It was definitely one of the best movies of 2013, and personally one of my favorite movies of all time. I'd hope you to enjoy it as much as I did.
I am presently a University sophomore studying in China. I like watching interesting movies, documentaries and books. I also love investing and gambling and Japanese food. :)