The Wolf of Wall Street

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Kyle Chandler, Matthew McConaughey & Jean Dujardin

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Rating: ★★★½

Based on the memoirs of fraudulent stockbroker Jordan Belfont, The Wolf of Wall Street chronicles the life of a narcissist, egotistical trickster who desires money above all things- and will do anything to get it.

Leonardo DiCaprio is excellent as Jordan Belfont- a drug riddled stockbroker.

In the late 80s, Jordan (DiCaprio) takes a job as a stockbroker for a large corporation in Wall Street, only to find himself suddenly unemployed due to a huge stock market crash. Down and out and completely broke, Jordan quickly finds himself selling penny stocks for exorbitant amount of money, swindling people out of their cash so that he can become rich. Eventually, he is able to build his own business from scratch, employing local lowlife hoodlums and drug dealers who are as callous as he is in acquiring wealth.

Jordan and his Merry Men- a bunch of degenerates who will do anything to be rich

But as soon as the big money begins to roll in, so does the FBI, and Agent Patrick Denham (Chandler) makes it his mission to bring Jordan down.

The Wolf of Wall Street is a very funny, hugely enjoyable, and at times, a very disturbing ride. We see both the millionaire high life Jordan has unscrupulously gained for himself, played against the lowest depths that a man can sink to.

There is one moment towards the end, when Jordan leaves the country club high as a kite, which is very successful at being both simultaneously horrific and hilarious. It is in this moment that the audience laughs at Jordan, and then pities him, and this is the general tone of the entire movie.

One of the best moments of the film: "Hang up the phone!"

Even though Jordan lives a life that many aspire to, we see that even though he ‘has it all’ he is just a vapid, hollow, sad man whose doggedly determined greed ends up destroying everyone around him.

We laugh at the callousness and recklessness of the main characters because their actions are so disgusting and unreal, only to realise that actually, this sort of thing does happen in real life. The Wolf of Wall Street’s morally ambiguous tone makes the audience reflect on how our society can allow the super-rich to get away with this sort of behaviour with little more than a slap on the wrist.

Jordan and his second wife Naomi (Robbie), toast to their wealth.

Jordan and his friends and colleagues partake in massively wild parties, orgies, drug abuse and everything else that a group of immature men with nothing to lose and copious amounts of money and success would realistically do.

Jordan trades one wife in for another, takes advice from coke-heads and then hides his money from the FBI in a Swiss bank account. He sinks his luxury yacht because he impulsively goes against the advice of his captain. He makes millions from dodgy dealings and does what he wants, when he wants.

Robbie is very beautiful, and she's come a long way from Neighbours!

And the moral of the story?

He gets away with it.  

There are some very good moments of directing from Scorsese, who follows up the abominable Hugo with a film actually worth watching. The yacht scene is great and the parts in the offices are excellent. It’s not really done in his typical style, which is probably why I liked it.

The way that Scorsese mixes different styles of film making- false adverts, voice overs, talking to camera and touches of unreliable narrator- works really well. The film has a light touch, which makes the comedic moments work even better, and also gives the film a very subjective, unreal quality to it.

Wealth wins...

DiCaprio dominates every single scene he is in by giving a frenetic, hyperactive performance that makes the character both likeable and detestable at the same time.

The supporting cast are good- Robbie is beautiful, McConaughey is hilarious and Dujardin does his Academy Award winning ‘charming gentleman’ shtick to a tee. Jonah Hill, for some reason, has been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, for playing a buck-toothed fat idiot- the role he seems to be typecast into. In all fairness, he does it to the best of his ability, but I don’t think he deserves to win an Oscar for it.

Jonah Hill plays the same type of role once again

At three hours in length, The Wolf of Wall Street demands a lot from the audience. The first two thirds go by quickly, as they are tight, frenetic and interesting. The last hour languishes slightly, but for once, I feel that this is a film that probably should be as long as it is, because it does have a lot of story to tell.

It is interesting to note that The Wolf of Wall Street has just topped the record for a narrative film that uses the most f-words.

Quite an achievement indeed.

Jordan's colleagues are enamored with his success...

Nominated for five Academy Award at this year’s Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor, The Wolf of Wall Street is a good film, but I’m not sure if it deserves to win any of these accolades, except perhaps for Best Actor for DiCaprio. But even though he is excellent in the role, I still feel that Bruce Dern in Nebraska gives a much deeper, far more understated and deserving performance.

The Wolf of Wall Street is a film that revels in excess, pointing out the evils of greed in hilarious and insightful ways.

It just makes me sad to think that people did- and continue to- act in such disgusting and disturbing ways, and that we let them get away with it.

But unfortunately, that’s life.