[Locke]

So I just watched The Wolf of Wall Street.

The incredible thing about The Wolf of Wall Street is on paper, it sounds awful. It focuses around the American Dream, stock markets and some guy I'd never heard of. Not only do I care about none of this stuff but it has no real importance to me either. But then you see it, that name 'Scorsese' and everything changes.

Under Scorsese even mediocre actors like DiCaprio put in performances that brim with charisma and energy that are just so great to watch. And already fantastic actors like Matthew McConaughey put in some of the best performances of the year despite being in the film for fleeting moments. About the only thing not on point is Margot Robbie's accent, but she looks so insanely gorgeous in this movie, who cares?

Under Scorsese characters sat around a table chatting about numbers is more adrenaline rush inducing than two giant robots fighting. It's incredible. That is a big key to why The Wolf of Wall Street works so well, Scorsese doesn't fuck around.

Belfort's "poor" period is brief, and only stays for as long as it needs to get its point across, with the gratuitous excess being the central part of the flick. I know certain audiences hate these kind of morally backwards movies, and are probably just waiting for Belfort's downfall but I was happy to revel in Belfort's coked up dreamworld and was glad that they saved the unravelling to the very end and Scorsese didn't feel the need to end it in some kind of ridiculous gun fight.

Too often these movies centralise themselves around the undoing, with the coming doom hanging so heavy over the first act and a half that you can't even enjoy the part of the movie you're supposed to enjoy.

It also helps that Terence Winter's based on real events screenplay is razor sharp. Comedy is mostly in the timing, true, but this has some of the most laugh out loud quotability I've seen from a movie from a very long time. The humour is also often fucking dark as well, with some scenes playing out like bizarre skits from some black comedy.

Another strong point of Winter's screenplay is the way he is able to be unbiased. I didn't think that was possible, but here he somehow does it. Belfort is undeniably the villain, and Winter's never claims otherwise, but Belfort is never a pantomime villain. He also is constantly allowed to enjoy himself, even though the movie makes no qualm in pointing out what he is doing is wrong. This helps please people on both sides of the fence, even if those who want the movie to come down hard either way will probably be disappointed.