Scorcese Still Showing His Master Filmmaking Powers

Rating: 9/10 (28 May 2014)

Wolf of Wall St. is a fascinating film by a master filmmaker, bringing 40 years of skill to the table; from casting, to shot selection, to how he pulls you into that world. And a guy who just plain having fun. The 3-hour film, traces the rise and fall of Wall St con man Jordan Belfort. A tightly constructed film, I wasn't bored for a minute.
There were some people who kicked up a fuss about the film and its glorification of these slimy characters, their materialistic lifestyle, and their treatment of women as nothing but sex objects. Some have said that the film glorifies that lifestyle, but to me, Winter (screenwriter) and Scorcese went out of their way to show the reality of it. The film focuses on how animalistic and primal people can become when greed takes them over. The obsession with money and power becomes a pathology. This, of course, is what many Wall St people will loathe about the film.
As for accuracy, I'm sure Jordan Belfort (who the film is based on and worked as a consultant on the film), embellished a few things, but according to one of the FBI agents who worked on the case, many of the more outrageous aspects depicted in the book and film were accurate.
The sad part is that even though there will will many Wall St workers and finance people who will watch the film and think, "That's a bunch of crap. They're painting with a broad brush. It's not fair," there will be far too many young (and not-so-young) Wall St up-and-comers who will ignore the whole last hour of Wolf of Wall St., and simply look at the first 2 hours as an inspirational tale of the American dream.