This movie tells the story of Jordan Belfort, a young Wall
Street broker that gets involved in drugs, money, sex and even more drugs
during the 90's. In his tenure trading (and stealing), Jordan marries,
divorces, does drugs, marries again, does even more drugs, makes solid friendships,
and does a lot more drugs. Scorsese puts
together an all-star cast to inhabit these beings that includes Leonardo DiCaprio,
Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Jon Bernthal, and Kyle
Chandler. All of whom seem to be having the time of their lives.
Martin Scorsese does a wonderful job keeping this movie on
a high at all times. Never once does this movie lose its energy or sense of
humour much like the drug induced characters. There are a lot of quick cuts and
edits to keep the movie feeling as If you are on drugs as well as playing high
energy music in some of the more serious situations. (Having Gloria by Italian singer Umberto Tozzi start up in the middle of a more serious situation
is pure genius you go from worry to laughter in a split second).
The serious drama and opposing vibrant comedy blend
perfectly, while still holding focus. And the directing of the movie
complements the writing to the point where the momentum of the film just never
stops. The writing works fantastically with the actors as they sell every word
they speak as if they're selling you a stock share. The Wolf of Wall Street
really sucks you in and shows you the lifestyle of these characters, sparing
nothing as it displays the great successes, the bizarre occurrences, and the
dire consequences.
A lot of the credit of the film's overall success has to
be awarded to Leonardo DiCaprio. In his breaking of the fourth wall, to his
long but completely engaging monologues about life, money, and greed, it's the
most assured and compelling work by the actor to date. I will admit you put Leo
in a movie and l will watch it. The man is a brilliant actor always giving it
his all and this was no different. You truly believed you were watching the
real John Belfort on the screen. A sequence of DiCaprio crawling on the floor
will probably be the scene of the year. (This scene was done in one take as
Leo, according to Martin ended up straining his back). For those who have seen
this movie you will know the scene I’m referring to and l will gladly admit l
had tears of laughter streaming down my face watching it. This is one
DiCaprio’s crowning achievements and will be one that will stand out in his
list of movies, if he does not receive an Oscar for it l will be disappointed
(not surprised through, as we all know Leo has deserved the Oscar before but
has yet to receive one).
Margot Robbie makes quite an entrance and gives a solid
performance here. She's a formidable beauty with lots of ambition and an
overpowering stare that will let you see that she is not afraid to seek
ambition. She demands the screen and you find yourself watching her more than
the rest of the actors. Most of Margot’s scenes are quite demanding and she
pulls them off well. The woman has no fear showing her body and let’s face it
with a figure like that why would you, her full frontal scene appears quite
early on and originally,
Martin Scorsese had her appear wearing
a bathrobe during the scene between her and Leonardo DiCaprio. She refused and
insisted doing the scene fully-nude; the first in her career. Margot is quoted
as saying: "The whole point of Naomi is that her body is her only form of
currency in this world...she has to be naked. She's laying her cards on the
table." She had three shots of tequila in succession before shooting the
scene to relax.
Personally I enjoyed the film as a dark comedy delivered
with energy and excess and while the film has little to no moral core -
basically sending the message "it's all screwed so who cares” - I don’t
mind this. It doesn’t hide what it is. We know we’re watching people committing
fraud so we also know their morals are going to be somewhat loose. For anyone
who has seen and loved Goodfellas and are a fan of Scorsese's style of film
making it's a must see. All this being said l can see people hating this movie,
with more than a few sex scenes (most of which fall on the funny side), a lot
of drug use and every second word being a swear word this movie won’t be one
for everyone to watch.
