GREED is GOOD

Yesterday I'm out of town and found myself idle for hours while waiting for something. All alone, no friends available, I went to the cinema. Ngapain lagi coba? Sempet bimbang, ada 2 film yang belum ada di Semarang. Eat, Pray, Love atau Wall Street ya?


Eventually, WALL STREET : Money Never Sleeps it is. And in that hollow cinema (where's everybody btw?) it turns out Gordon Gekko's back. In 1987 he performed the infamous monologue :

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit."

... Now he recites it again. Not entirely, but it was there. I chuckled chew those words. It's not because the whole thing was true, but how Michael Douglas portray Gekko brilliantly once again in 2010. So anti-hero. So bold. So contradictive. Bersetting ketika Gekko akhirnya dibebaskan setelah dipenjara 8 tahun karena insider trading dan securities fraud. Hubungannya dengan sang putri, Winnie, fucked up karena suatu sebab di masa lalu. Winnie sendiri saat ini punya relationship dengan Jacob, seorang investment bank trader di Wall Street, dunia yang notabene dibenci Winnie karena mengingatkan pada ayahnya dan paham 'Greed Is Good'-nya.

Belum sampai di tengah cerita, somehow aku tahu arah filmnya akan kemana. Jelas terbaca, tapi tidak menghilangkan unsur entertainmentnya. Karena meskipun aku ngga ngerti soal saham dan bursa efek dan lain-lain yang jadi root film ini, with all the quick pace, flashy sequence numbers, rapid cut-to-cut editing, graphic and digital tricks, just like blackjack-based movie 21, rasanya tuh chop chop chop, keren dan 'mudeng' aja gitu :D

Michael Douglas keliatanlah kelasnya sebagai aktor watak kawakan. Pertentangan hati seorang ayah dan ego seorang mogul tergambarkan dengan supple. Josh Brolin mainnya bagus dan meyakinkan. Shia LaBeouf doin good too. It's good seeing him playing annoying brat no more. With a suit, he looks even more fit. And Carey Mulligan, the sweetheart, dengan pixie-look dan mimbik-mimbik nahan tangisnya itu lho. Aktingnya memang tidak terlalu standout but she's just too adorable. Tjantik!

Verdict : pure drama, not to thrilling, but entertaining. And pleases our eyes too. Traders, no traders, everybody could enjoy this movie. Oh dan satu lagi : banyak quote (yang menurutku) bagus dan awakening disini.

Not the 'greed is good' thingy for sure :)