Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" is the hot topic film right now, plastered over social media and dominating conversations. Love it or hate it - you're still going to be talking about it.
Having been in deep exam revision hibernation for the past month (you can probably tell due to lack of blog activity - sorry!) I had seen no trailers for "The Wolf of Wall Street", but during one of the afore mentioned revision sessions it was recommended by a friend and I decided to take the plunge and see if it was worth the hype.
On Explicit Content
The film is a black comedy that centres around the real life character Jordan Belfort - a New York stockbroker who has a close relationship with crime and corruption and little to no concept of morality. If you're easily offended by the use of profane language or the depiction of debaucherous acts then this is 100% not the film for you. Additionally this is not the type of film you'd go to see with your parents or on a first or second date. Third is probably still pushing it, so to be on the safe side you might want to go it alone or with friends if you have any.
Without giving too much away for those who haven't seen it, the first five minutes pretty much set the standards for the rest of the film and before I forget to mention, that rest of the film is THREE HOURS LONG. Baring this in mind it's probably worth taking a bag big enough to smuggle several edible goodies to the cinema, fellow bloggers think Zara Office City Bag.
You know it's this explicit content and 'glamorisation' of crime that is receiving the negative reviews but personally I don't have a problem with it, the portrayal of excess is necessary to show just how corrupt Belfort's character is. The film is based on a real person therefore to do his real character, and the film, justice if sex and excess are his values then by all means they should be shown. Clearly I'm no seasoned film critic but after watching the film I didn't feel like taking a load of quaaludes and dabbling with a life of crime I just thought "Damn what a good film, and why doesn't Leo know I exist?"
On Acting
Leonardo DiCaprio - enough said. The man is a beauty, but more than that he is an absolutely incredible actor and I don't think it's an overstatement to say this was the performance of his career (see Lemmons scene) - though admittedly this is coming from a girl who still hasn't seen Titanic.
Margot Robbie, Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughey's performances are also worth mentioning and there was never a moment when I didn't completely buy into their characters. It has to be said that overall the casting for this film was very well done and even the actors with small parts had a huge impact.
Overall
If I had to express some negatives on "The Wolf of Wall Street" I would say that it was a bit long, but at the same time there's nothing I could point to and say you should have left that out. There are parts that are slightly uncomfortable to watch but this is completely in line with the tone of the film. I thought there was just the right mix of humorous and shocking and if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend you give it a go for Leo's beautiful face if nothing else.
What about you guys? Have you seen "The Wolf of Wall Street"? What did you think?
