I was hesitant about seeing this film because my last Oliver Stone experience, "W," was underwhelming to say the least. However, the famed director redeemed himself with "Wall Street 2." The cast is superb. Shia is not only eye candy, he has the goods, he'll be an actor to watch for the foreseeable future. Mulligan with her unique look took some adjusting to as the female lead, but once you get used to her, her character works. You begin to accept and even root for them as a couple. Their chemistry is really appealing and even welcoming.
Other highlights are the cameos, from Charlie Sheen to what seemed like the whole cast of CNBC anchors to even Stone himself who appeared more than once on film.
The plot and storyline are solid, even if predictable in some areas (like Gecko cleaning out his house and shipping out after being wired the money from overseas.) The movie is great but not flawless. It felt a little slow, long, and drawn out in some areas. As aforementioned, some of the characters took a little getting used to. Frank Langella looked out of place when first being introduced on screen, on the stock exchange floor, his age a major contrast to the surrounding more youthful stock traders. Mulligan's character was a little irritating with all her hatred towards her dad, especially so if you didn't know the storyline from the previous movie. In fairness, they did attempt to explain a little afterwards so it wasn't a huge problem. It also took some getting used to seeing Susan Sarandon play a slacker. And even Lebouf's character seems a little old for the young looking actor at first, but he pulls it off as the film unfolds. I could nitpick other small things here and there, but none of it really takes away from the overall quality of the film.
By IMDB