The Wolf Of Wall Street (January 2014)

Official Australian release date: 23/1/14. Viewed: 22/1/14.

Director: Martin Scorsese

Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Kyle Chandler
Genre: Drama / Comedy / True Story
Rating: R

OK, so I went into ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’ with no expectations and it really impressed me! I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised – it is Scorsese! He’s definitely a master director, with the film paced perfectly and the three hour run-time actually flies by, with barely a minute wasted. I also liked how DiCaprio occasionally broke the fourth wall and spoke directly to the audience – works well here.

It’s a true story, but I assume some creative liberties have been taken, as usual. It’s basically a story of greed, ambition and ego, all played out on Wall St, New York in the late 80s and early 90s. There’s some great supporting actors as DiCaprio’s fellow stockbrokers/advisers, none more so than Hill, but it’s great to see McConaughey, Reiner, Favreau and Suplee helping out.

While a film about stockbrokers doesn’t sound too exciting, I can assure you this is – it has debauchery, drugs, alcohol, ridiculous chanting, sex – approximately a new pair of boobs to look at every 5min – life-or-death situations, a decent score, plenty of laughs (particularly the country club scene!) and a fitting conclusion.

Overall: DiCaprio really carries the film – it’s his charisma that has you cheering for him and his gang of stockbrokers, even when you realise they’re technically the bad guys, with all the corruption and fraud that has come to light in Wall St. DiCaprio definitely deserves an Oscar for this role and you owe it to yourself to see this film.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.