The Reckless Pursuit of the Almighty Dollar

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2014)

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio reteam once again for the highly controversial three hour long black comedy looking at the excesses of the world of stock brokers.
The Wolf of Wall Street is a bio-pic about Jordan Balfort (DiCaprio), following him as he starts out a young stockbroker who under the mentorship of Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey) falls into a world of drug taking and hard living. When he loses his job after Black Friday, the biggest stock market crash since 1929, Jordan loses his job and he ends up on a course of the get rich quick schemes, over selling penny stocks to poor people and then rich people and as his firm becomes more successful enters insider trading and any other financial crime you can think of. As he and his cohorts become richer they fall deeper into a world of excess and debortuary and one FBI agent, Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler) is determined to bring Balfort and his company down.
The Wolf of Wall Street is very similar to other Scorsese films like Goodfellas, Casino and Raging Bull, following the rise and fall of a someone and their moral decay. The Wolf of Wall Street follows that formula, replacing the violence with sex and drug taking. Scorsese does use similar techniques to what he has used in his previous films, such the multiple voiceovers and a wedding scene and the story share the similarities to the three previous films. At times The Wolf of Wall Street does come off as a Martin Scorsese's greatest hit. But even Scorsese doing a greatest hit still provides us with an excellent film.
Scorsese still brought plenty of flourish to the proceedings, using many visual tricks from the way the cameras and hover, mixing with Balfort's narration, such as his car changing colour and the use of slo-mo. Balfort narrates to the camera similar to how Michael Caine did in Alfie, describing events and allows audience member who do not have much knowledge about the stock market to follow the film. There is also visual metaphor such as when Balfort's yacht sinks as he world starts to fall apart.
Some people have criticised The Wolf of Wall Street for being an endorsement of Balfort and the world he lived in. They must have seen a different film to me because to me the film I saw was a indictment of the culture of the banking sector, a culture of excess, bullying and people who were looking for a fast buck, not caring about how they get it. These people were fraudsters who looking for various forms of highs and these were people controlling the economy. Scorsese and screenwriter Terence Winter were brilliant at showing this nasty, aggressive world whilst still allowing us to see well written characters and their friendship and loyalty to each other, similar to a gangster film.
The Wolf of Wall Street is a darkly funny throughout, blessed with a script with witty lines, top comic performances and set-pieces and Scorsese's direction. It is very funny using many different types of humour, both as a straight comedy and a dark comedy.
There is a great cast, Di Caprio leading the front and he is supported excellent actors. Jonah Hill's stock continues to grow, giving a great performance as Balfort's right-hand man and he was able to blend the comic and serious aspects of his character. Margot Robbie too was fantastic, giving a great Brooklyn accent and she has come a long way, from the Australian soap Neighbours to Scorsese. There are plenty of excellent actors in smaller roles, from McConaughey, to Super 8's Chandler and Jean Durjardin. They are even top actors in small roles like Joanna Lumley and Jon Favreau.
The Wolf of Wall Street is a ballsy film that is a little on the long side. Scorsese was able to make a gangster film about white-collar crime, replacing violence with sex and drugs. This is a return of the Scorsese of the 90s.