Today I stumbled onto the trailer for "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" -- the sequel to Oliver Stone's outstanding "Wall Street" of 1987.Unfortunately, not impressive.
My first hangup is that, according to the trailer, the plot features Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) trying to patch things up with his estranged daughter. HELLO -- the original film features G.G. as a proud father of a chubby BOY (not a daughter) in a few family shots with Gekko's on-screen spouse (the socialite played by Sean Young).
Obvious factual errors/inconsistencies from one film to its sequel = huge pet peeve.
Another trailer item that bothers me about the sequel is the apparent absence of any of the other key players from the original. Where is Terence Stamp, who played Gekko's fellow power baron who "could buy the stock just to burn [Gekko's] ass!"?
Where is Daryl Hannah, G.G.'s bombshell interior designer? And what of Ms. Young, or James Spader? None of their "Wall Street" characters made the cut for part two, according to IMDB.
According to news reports from Cannes, where a preview screening of "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," there is a cameo from Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen). But no Martin Sheen -- makes sense he would not appear again (since the Bud Fox character, his son, is not a key player in part deux).
Are the writers of the sequel so weak they couldn't find creative ways to bring back the original cast?
The Terence Stamp character alone -- and his role in the Gordon Gekko take down in the original film -- need some closure: Did Sir Larry Wildman (Stamp) go to the clinker as did Gekko? I hope this question is answered when the film makes it stateside in September.
The previews for the "Wall Street" sequel are also spoiled by the selected music -- the original film had great tunes by Frank Sinatra, David Byrne and others. The "Money Never Sleeps" trailer is punctuated by a hit by The Rolling Stones, indicative of another way the sequel diverges (down a poorly chosen road) from the original.
And a motor cycle chase? WTF?!?
The new characters portrayed by Carey Mulligan, Josh Brolin and Shia LaBeouf ... boring, plain, yuk.
Frank Langella, apparently portraying one of the Feds ... barf.
About the only entertaining thing about the trailer was the scene of Gekko checking out of prison, receiving his brick-sized Motorola mobile phone from the beach scene in movie one.
Like Gekko trying to re-use that phone in modern times, I suspect viewers of "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" may anticipate only "bad service."
Photo via IMBD and Twentieth Century Fox
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