Money Never Sleeps

"Why don't you start calling me Gordon."
--Gordon Gekko (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps)

This weekend my brothers and I went to see the long awaited sequel to my all time fave movie, Wall Street. For years we had been 'writing' the sequel's script for Oliver Stone. Gekko gets out of jail and opens a hedge fund. In the midst of a credit market meltdown, perhaps he turns 'good guy' (a la Arnie in Terminator 2) and saves the world from a financial market crash.

Not exactly how it unfolds, since the credit collapse occured prior to the movie hitting the screen. But not altogether different, either. Gekko does seem a reformed guy, altho he still swipes (or at least 'borrows') a $100 million trust fund meant for his daughter so that he can capitalize, yep, his London-based hedge fund. And he does take action toward saving his narrow world (i.e., his family) after foreseeing the credit collapse and then shorting markets during the meltdown.

One can see why Stone took his time in getting this flick out. Once the actual credit market meltdown was in motion, it would have been difficult to write a script with a historical background that was still fluid. It still is, of course. Stone did a good thing, I think, in focusing the movie against the chronology of 2008/early 2009 when many eye popping market events were occurring.

Center pieces of the historical backdrop included two meetings at the NY Fed concerning what to do about overleveraged firms facing insolvency as asset prices tumbled. The early meeting involved a situation resembling the Bear Stearns/Lehman situation where only a single firm faced extinction and the rest of the firms crowed about the dangers of moral hazard of bailing someone out. The later meeting involved the remainder of the firms, all of them facing insolvency, hypocritically delivering the 'too big to fail' ultimatum to the Hank Paulson look alike from Treasury.

The biggest surprise to me in this movie was the increased complexity of Gekko's character. In WS1, Gekko was your typical LBO operator. One dimensional--someone who would do anything, even things illegal, to win. In WS2, it seems that GG has changed. While he expresses little remorse over his past behavior, Gekko appears introspective after he emerges from prison. He seems interested in pulling his disintegrated family life together. He also identifies problems with current financial and political systems that are moving things toward the brink. He expresses many of those thoughts (with very good clarity, I thought) during a book tour speech in front of Forham MBAs.

Don't worry, there's still plenty of antagonist in Gekko that raises questions about whether he's reformed at all. That, of course, is what an interesting story does.

A few words/themes are repeated throughout this film. They include bubbles, leverage, and moral hazard. Stone appears to be telling viewers that there systemic problems related to those factors. Very astute, in my view...

Perhaps the biggest problem with this film is that we have two stories unfolding. One between the characters and one related to the historical backdrop. Stone clearly wants the viewer to be thinking about both. But with so many moving parts (and for those not well versed in the chronology of the 2008 meltdown), this is hard to do.

Coming into this movie I was assuming that Oliver Stone wanted to convey a message about the downside of capitalism. He is on record as saying that he wanted to deliver such a message in WS1 but that it 'backfired' on him. Instead, the original flick inspired a generation of ambitious folks toward the Street.

WS2 constituted an opportunity for Stone to ensure that this time his message got across.

His message in WS2 was more balanced than anticipated. I doubt anyone could successfully argue that the social system portrayed in WS2 was one of capitalism. The system is clearly hampered by collusion between firms and government. Moreover, the film does not seem bossy or normative at all. Instead, it presents a number of clues for thoughtful people questioning exactly what went on during the 2008-2009 meltdown.

And what is still going on today.