 |
| Charlie
Sheen, Michael Douglas, Daryl Hannah, Martin Sheen, James Spader, John
C. McGinley, Hal Holbrook |
|
 |
Anamorphic
widescreen |
|
Dolby Digital
5.1 |
 |
DTS |
|
|
Trailer(s) |
|
Featurette(s) |
|
Documentary |
|
Audio commentary
|
|
Deleted scenes
|
|
Concept art
/ storyboards |
|
Multi-angle
feature |
|
|
|
|
Gordon
Gekko (Michael Douglas):
The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better
word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works.
A
young, ambitious salesman on Wall Street enters a world of crooked morals
when he starts feeding a corporate shark inside information.
 The
film that cemented Oliver Stone's reputation as a top director after
his Oscar success with the preceding Platoon, Wall Street
is now even more notable for giving Michael Douglas the springboard
for the rest of his acting career. His role of corporate raider Gordon
Gekko revealed his particular talent for playing ruthless, immaculate,
arrogant rich bastards. His acting accomplishment in Wall Street
deservedly won him an Oscar, and later roles in movies like The Game
further explore other aspects of this type of character. Charlie Sheen
also does well in this part, though in his case this didn't ever lead
to a similarly successful career in prominent film roles. He is surprisingly
good in a nuanced performance, and is helped along in several scenes
by his eminent father. As a whole, Wall Street provides mostly
gripping entertainment and has some memorable scenes, though its severe
moralizing in the last reel is neither subtle nor particularly convincing.
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
Identical versions are available for Region
1 and Region 2.
The anamorphic widescreen image
is framed at 1.78:1. Time has not been kind to surviving prints of this
1987 picture, and both edge and color enhancement has been applied to
an overly noticeable extent. The film's color palette seems to be a
little off-balance, with oversaturated reds and an oddly dark and faded
look. There are also frequent scratches and cases of graininess on the
source print, making this only a moderately successful presentation
of this picture.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is very clear and free of too much hiss, but
of course it is hardly the kind of dynamic, integrated surround field
one would expect from more recent releases. The score and effects have
been spread nicely across the surroudn field in any case, and though
sound quality is overall rather thin, it's still a nice sound presentation.
This
Special Edition DVD comes with some outstanding special features, including
an audio commentary from director Oliver Stone and a new 50-minute documentary
on the movie's production history and later influence. Stone's commentary
is typical of its director's personality: arrogant and completely full
of himself, but also very entertaining, articulate and revealing. He
proves he has no fear of saying unfriendly things about his cast or
any other people he has ever disagreed with, and is particularly critical
about Daryl Hannah's performance.
Stone is equally forthright - as well as equally full of himself - in
the 50-minute documentary, which also features interview footage of
most other principal cast members. A notable exception is Daryl Hannah
who is not likely have very fond memories on working on this project
with Stone or Sean Young who reportedly wasn't very nice to her either...
In any case, it's an outstanding documentary that manages to shed light
both on the production processes and on the influence the film has had
on popular culture and even today's world of finance banking. The
static menu screens are fittingly designed around American currency symbols
with stills of the main actors.
Dan Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on Wall
Street .
Click here
to return to the front page.
|
|
| |
