Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (7/10)

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[/caption]I made it a point to catch Wall Street before I watched this. And when my friends decided to go yesterday, I quickly went home and managed to catch the first three quarters of the original 1987 movie. And I'm glad I did because there were some references to the first movie that I caught during the sequel that made the whole experience complete.Michael Douglas amazingly didn't look all that different. For his age, he still looks fantastic. His character Gordon Gekko returned without missing a beat. And Douglas' great portrayal once again showed why he is the man and the devil, and why the audience love to hate and hate to love him. You can tell when his mind was moving faster than the people he is talking to, and that sly manipulative look he has so subtly appearing on his face whenever he's scheming.The rest of the cast were equally great. Carey Mulligan impressed me the most and she is definitely one to watch in what she's doing next. Shia LaBeouf once again delivers as he always does. Frank Langella looked like he aged quite a fair bit since Frost/Nixon, perhaps from the weight he's put on around his abdomen.I didn't quite get Eli Wallach's character, with his fingers going senile on him, waving at things that weren't there. But his presence even when he was just sitting down quietly added certain significance to the scene.The movie could have ended perhaps 10 or 15 minutes earlier. Director Oliver Stone certainly took his time building up the plot, and it is a thick plot but a necessary one. The whole movie did feel long but I would always appreciate one that has a good plot and really takes its time to develop. Stone's pacing didn't feel boring too so it wasn't too big of an issue. Especially when each scene was beautifully shot.I wasn't thrilled with how it ended. Like I mentioned, I could have ended earlier and I would have been happier with that instead of a "happy ending".