For over a decade there has been a sense of déjà vu with
Scorsese’s films: his latest arrives on a fifty storey tidal wave of hype, critics
hailing it as easily as good as Taxi
Driver or Raging Bull, but this
is never the case. Gangs of New York,
The Aviator, even The Departed: all solid entries on the
director’s peerless CV, but nothing that comes close to his early days. The Wolf of Wall Street feels like the
first film in a long time that breathes the same air as the masterpieces that
made Scorsese’s name.
The problem with Scorsese’s most recent films is that
they don’t feel like Scorsese is behind the camera, that he is going out of his
way to win awards. With The Departed
it was as if Scorsese was doing his best Tarantino impression rather than make
another Scorsese picture. The Wolf of
Wall Street is Scorsese back to his playful, rule-breaking self, setting up
scenes that you think will go one way, then veer off in the opposite direction.
It’s three chaotic hours of virtually scene-for-scene sex, drugs and ticking
off every foul-mouthed word in the English language. It’s also one of the
strongest scripts that Scorsese has brought to the screen.
Like Henry Hill in GoodFellas,
Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) is loathsome and morally bankrupt. In Wolf’s opening scenes we are introduced
to the man and his lifestyle (all swiftly cut together by Scorsese’s long-time
editor, Thelma Schoonmaker). He is arrogant, egotistical and unrepentant.
Screenwriter Terence Winter does not soften the film’s protagonist: this is the
man that you are going to spend the next three hours with, like it or not. It
is to both Winter and DiCaprio’s credit that we do not walk out within the first
ten minutes. We may not like Belfort, but we want to see him rise as well as,
inevitably, fall.
Belfort is arguably DiCarprio’s best performance. Scorsese
has nurtured DiCaprio since they first worked together on Gangs of New York, and if DiCaprio’s role as Amsterdam Vallon felt
safe, that at no point was he really challenged as an actor, then with The Wolf of Wall Street DiCaprio is
given a sandpit to play in and do whatever the hell he likes. He gets to do
intense, showman-like speeches as Belfort fires up his employees at Stratton
Oakmont, deliver razor-sharp, irreverent voiceovers, and gives us a master
class in slapstick comedy (it’s only January and Wolf has already given us one of the stand-out set pieces of 2014,
when Belfort, drugged up to his eyeballs, attempts to crawl back into his car).
The
Wolf of Wall Street is very much a film of two halves; Belfort’s
rise and fall. In the first half DiCaprio is fast talking, impassioned, every
facial muscle getting used. Belfort may make his money by stealing it from
everyone else, a “Twisted Robin Hood
who takes from the rich and gives to himself and his merry band of brokers” as
Forbes once described him, but you cannot take your eyes off the man while he’s
doing it. As with so many rich and powerful men, ego gets the better of Belfort
and DiCaprio delivers the flip side of the wild performance he gives early on.
As the FBI and FCC cut Belfort down to size, DiCaprio becomes far more restrained.
He is hunched up, exhausted, speaking softly and slowly. There are moments
where we glimpse the fierce, take no prisoners Belfort, but he is a different man
now, having everything he strived to build taken away from him. Few actors are
as versatile and even fewer are as convincing. So much of what makes The Wolf of Wall Street such an outstanding
film is down to DiCaprio.
Another actor giving everything
and then that little bit more is Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff, Belfort’s protégé
and literal partner in crime. Hill has been great to watch ever since he first
appeared in Superbad. Here he
transforms from a man who envies Belfort, to becoming Belfort’s shadow. Like
DiCaprio, not only does Hill get to fire smart one-liners and deliver priceless
moments of physical comedy, but he can also, impressively, be both subtle and
moving. When Azoff realises that Belfort is working as an informant for the
FBI, he is reduced to silence, choking back tears. It is heartbreaking to watch
and once again confirms that Hill is far more than a comedy actor.
While The Wolf of Wall Street could be
otherwise known as The Leonardo DiCaprio Show, the film has plenty of cameos.
Most films struggle to have one memorable supporting role, Wolf has several. Best of the bunch is Matthew McConaughey as
Belfort’s mentor Mark Hanna. Everything that McConaughey says or does is brilliantly
funny; you wonder how much of his performance is derived from the script and
how much did he come up with on the spot. The
Artist’s Jean Dujardin appears as a slimy banker, almost permanently
wearing a devious smile and, while dressed in sharp suits and giving an air of
sophistication, is just as grubby as Belfort. Joanna Lumley makes a surprise
appearance as Naomi’s (Margot Robbie) English aunt; a scene involving Belfort
flirting with her being both comical and awkward to watch.
The majority of Scorsese’s
films are dotted with pitch black humour, yet The Wolf of Wall Street feels like Scorsese’s first real attempt at
comedy. Considering the film is three hours long, you will be laughing for much
of its running time. Wolf’s 180
minutes are not constant laughter, however, Terence Winter has also written a
number of powerful, eye-opening scenes. One of the film’s many set pieces is
when Belfort and his nemesis, FBI agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler) meet for
the first time. Offering Denham plenty of fine food and wine, as well as
sneakily trying to bribe him, you think that Belfort has got away with it. This
is merely an act from Denham who makes it all too clear to Belfort that he is
after him. For the majority of this scene Belfort has been the one in control,
leading Denham on a merry dance, when it has been Denham all along who has been
playing the multi-millionaire.
When the FBI start picking
away at Belfort, threatening him with court appearances and decades in prison,
it is a Wizard of Oz moment as the
curtain is pulled back, revealing a repulsive man behind the money and the
style, his wife Naomi bearing the brunt of his temper and out of control drug
taking. This could have been a cynical way to justify how, for much of the film,
Belfort is portrayed as a messiah figure; the villain of the piece finally
getting his comeuppance. Everyone watching The
Wall of Wall Street is waiting for things to turn sour for Belfort and they
do so in spectacular style, but Winter does this in a way that feels satisfying
rather than pretentious.
Many critics have
questioned the morals of The Wolf of Wall
Street, or, as they see it, the lack of them. I’m going to back very slowly
away from the debate over Martin Scorsese’s films being explicitly violent or
sexist, but what I will point out with The
Wolf of Wall Street is that it is based on the life of Jordan Belfort, a
man for whom excess was his everyday life. Imagine the outcry from those same
critics if Scorsese toned down Belfort’s exploits, there would be plenty of
reviews out there all repeating the words “let down”, “a waste”, and “a cynical
attempt to win another Best Director award”.
Does Belfort get the
punishment he deserves? I don’t think it spoils the film by saying no, not
exactly. This is one of the many reasons why critics feel that the film
celebrates greed, which is not true at all. At no point does Scorsese judge Belfort;
instead he shows us the world we live in, that is on the front page of the
tabloids almost every day. People like Belfort have been allowed to exploit
their way to wealth and power, which begs the question, just who is the real
villain here?
The
Wolf of Wall Street is Scorsese back to his very best, throwing all
sorts of original and insane ideas at the screen. Under any other director this
could have been a painful, even embarrassing three hours, but Scorsese’s confident
direction keeps the film utterly focused and at no point does it flag. Updating
the gangsters and hustlers of his earlier films to the three-thousand dollar
suit wearing stockbrokers, Scorsese gives us a near-perfect study of this
world, these apparently respectable people cutting corners and getting rich the
easy way.
It may take several years, but The Wolf of Wall Street will be ranked up there with Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and GoodFellas
as one of Scorsese’s most celebrated films.
5 out of 5
Matt
