A good movie but far too long

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2016)

Nobody could deny that Leonardo Di Caprio turns in a fantastic performance in this movie. There are several standout scenes including his various speeches to his staff, the hilarious encounter with the FBI agents on his yacht, and above all the incredible gymnastics with the car at the country club. I found him absolutely credible as a man driven by - not exactly the pursuit of wealth, because he carries on long after he has more than enough - rather sheer energy, the need to be incessantly active, whether in making money or spending it.
And it's the spending of the money that drags the film down. What on earth persuaded Scorsese that we needed not just one or two drug-fuelled orgies but so many they couldn't be counted? The film could have lost an hour with no damage at all to its narrative arc or its exploration of human greed and white collar criminality. Ironically, the movie didn't take up on the opportunity to pursue the consequences for the duped of Di Caprio's fraudulent schemes. A very short scene on the NYC subway showed what was missed in that regard. Instead we had the constant pounding of the stock selling, the drug taking, the crazy behaviour.
In some ways a remarkable film which took the time to explain how the scheme worked but alas not to illustrate the damage it inflicted on the victims. It might have been Scorsese's masterpiece.