oh atticus i agree with you the technicals in the movie is absurd (comeon we all know that). But that's just an intro to get to the premises - which is to show the drama inside a large ib after finding out it's in deep shit (for whatever reason). Everyone got a chuckle out of the rocket kid's eureka moment but the layoffs process, cutting the risk guy off then forcing him back to plug the leak, or the part in the bathroom when the kid told the md that's all i want to do but you are firing me, and he just doesnt give a shit and continues shaving. All the little moments i thought was well done and hit pretty close to home, at least better than any other movie on the subject. wall street 2 isnt even a movie, it's just a bunch of talking points stringed together. You dont watch a jerry bruckheimer movie and complain the shootings are not realistic or the bullet trajectory isnt accurate. Same here.
+1.. I don't get Atticus' beef, with unrealisms.. Im curious if he (Atticus) worked on a floor during 08? Ditto on the shaving/'whatever' moment in the Aston. Bridge scene was great IMO too, the movie makers at least had some experts who knew the 'real' guys.
I watched that movie yesterday, bah, how lame. It starts good but like nothing happens, they just sell their positions and then the movie ends. Pffff, even Wall Street 2 was 1000x better.
Some of you guys do realize the point of making a movie is to make money, and to make money you have to target an audience larger than the .1% of people who work in the industry? But I guess there are meth cooks who complain about the technical minutiae in the show Breaking Bad too.
I liked the movie. It's setting was Wall Street, but it was more about people under this pressure and their dillemas within that world. It didn't get preachy. It kept to the point. It reminded me of Glen Gary Glenn Ross. A movie on almost anything will never be purely realistic, because realistic is either boring or too hard to tell consicely. You got a feel for what everyone at every level was feeling and what their thoughts were given their point of view. Kevin Spacey was a shark in the office, but loved his dog. Penn Bagely was enthralled with the money he was seeing around him (like most young junior analysts) Paul Bettany was callous about the money he spent but was insanely loyal to his boss The MD was concerned about his back and about doing what it took to save the firm (in conjunction) The movie wasn't technical but it also wasn't written as a childrens book. Have you ever heard a conversation about 2008 that didn't use the word "derivatives?" THe only problem is that all of the dialog is forgettable. It would be a cult classic if it had better one liners.
I didn't see but 20-30 minutes of the movie. The plot-element involving their VaR on the new vol-line was just ridiculous. Like it was "National Treasure" to locate the MTM and NOBODY but those two clowns knew a thing. The scale of the IB made it seem like the entire firm could fit in the conference room. Then the audacity of the kid in the limo stating that the people milling around Manhattan are blissfully unaware of their fate. Clown shoes. It's intended to be a dramatization, not the "Neverending Story" (which I preferred, better soundtrack).
I was slightly disappointed - each character seemed really contrived. The movie struck me more as a PSA, then a movie. That said, I did think it was enjoyable and thought Paul Bettany and Zachary Quinto were good. ...and Demi Moore's still pretty hot considering she's pushing 100.
You are right about those three things but: The catalyst was kind of retarded, but it's was the best I have seen in a financial movie. The IB scale thing didn't make sense. But I think they made some mention that it was senior partners only and it was just this one group and then they would have to deal with the other groups. The limo conversation was stupid as well, but what I heard those exact same comments through 2008 and 2009 at the firm I used to work at. It was unnecessary unless it was to show how important Penn Bagely thought he was (being an analyst at a bank). The realistic things: in every other financial firm the main characters are prop traders, salesmen, bankers, m&a experts working on fx transactions, complex derivatives, and fundamental analysis. Here everyone did just their job. You could see the heirarchy that is true of most banks. Both the levels and the flatness that an associate would present to very senior people in blunt terms. The attitudes and motives of most of the characters were inline with my experience at the firm I worked at. I also liked the lack of a meaningful soundtrack. The only finance movie better than this was Trading Places and we don't need to debate the authenticity of that one.