Recently, Javier Bardem decided to drop out of Oliver Stone’s “Money Never Sleeps”, a follow-up to his -87 success, “Wall Street”. I would have enjoyed seeing Bardem portraying a villain again, this time in the shape of a hardboiled hedge fund investor. That alone, would have been worth watching, despite my doubts about this movie.
However, I think it is a bit strange that he decides to leave a well-known director, with a plot that deals will the collapse of Wall Street, a highly current topic. Instead, he choose “Eat, Pray, Love”, a movie based on the kitschy memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert, with Julia Roberts and director Ryan Murphy, that has only one movie in his luggage, prior to this.
Did Javier Bardem smell something?
Let us take a closer look on what type of assets this movie has left, without Bardem.
Oliver Stone, which I think is a tad overrated and has not delivered anything eye-popping since, “Natural Born Killers” -94.
Michael Douglas, will reprise his parade role as Gordon Gekko. I have a feeling that Michael Douglas of today, will not manage to pull this one through, on his own. He would have needed a solid sidekick, someone like Bardem.
Josh Brolin, according to Deadline Hollywood Daily, Oliver Stone has called him and offered Bardem’s role. Well, the last time Stone and Brolin teamed up, was last year with “W.”, a movie that did not reach any greater success. I think that Brolin feels like a panic solution and a bleach substitute to Bardem.
Shia LaBeouf will play a young trader, engaged to Gekko’s daughter. However, I have a hard time seeing LaBeouf steeping up to the plate and shoulder this.
That leaves us with the plot, which is about a young trader that teams up with the disgraced Wall Street corporate raider, Gordon Gekko to alert the financial community about a coming economic collapse and to find out who killed his mentor.
To me, it sounds that Gekko will be portrayed as some kind of hero, trying to save the economic world from disaster, with the help of a young wannabe trader. Not quite what I, and I guess others that saw “Wall Street”, had expected or wanted for that matter.
Therefore, after reviewing the facts about “Wall Street 2”, I have a feeling that Bardem did the right choice, after all, and if would own shares in this, I would have called my trader and ordered him to sell.
What do you think, will “Wall Street 2” become the same success as it predecessor or will it had to declare bankruptcy? You are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions below.
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