8/10 - Self indulgence is the name of the game
The Wolf of Wall Street is Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Jordan Belfort's autobiography, apparently in real time. From his lowly start, to becoming a wealthy stockbroker, to a drug addled criminal mastermind, Belfort's story is gripping. It really is an amazing story, with some amazing story telling.
You'll definitely need camping or survival gear if you want to sit down and watch this film. At a staggering 3 hours, this movie is longer than all The Lord of the Rings and all the The Hobbit movies released so far, save for Return of the King which had an addition 20 minutes of various endings. That's incredible. Literally awe inspiring that someone thinks audiences have that kind of attention span. I honestly don't want to give this movie praise in fear that others will emulate this incredibly bloated version. The most frustrating part was the amount of times I reflected on how unnecessary that scene was to the movie during my first viewing. Stephen King said "To write is human, to edit is divine." and I really view these Peter Jackson-esque overblown movie monsters as being an Icarus-like fall from grace. Not every shot filmed is gold.
Getting past the length, however, leaves a fantastic story. There's something about the "based on a true story" line that gives a movie permission to go wild an know the audience is going to be there with them. The ease of which a movie can exaggerate for the sake of story or aesthetic is problematic sometimes because audiences become desensitized to it. How do you make Leonardo DiCaprio seem humble and broke when audiences are fresh off of seeing him as the titular character in The Great Gatsby? Having a greater grasp on the gravity of the situation gives the audience a different perspective. Theatrics aside, this film is about the characters.
Jonah Hill is incredible and I hope he wins an Oscar for this role. Dicaprio is on point, as usual, carrying the weight of the film. It's hysterically funny at times, and gut wrenching at others. I could continue to write another 1500 words on my thoughts of this film, from the outstanding supporting cast, to the overuse of morally bankrupted characters in movies. This movie leaves me conflicted, so I'll save it for another time.
Frankly I'm on the fence about Wolf, it's better than most films, but not even close to being the best.What do you think?
IMDb - The Wolf of Wall Street (8.5)
Wikipedia - The Wolf of Wall Street
Rotten Tomatoes - The Wolf of Wall Street (77%)
Amazon.ca - The Wolf of Wall Street
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