The Wolf of Wall Street (Cinema Screening)

(spoiler free)

With the Oscar nominations having been revealed this week it has been all chat about who should win, The Wolf on Wall Street is up for 5 awards – although this means very little for me as American Hustle has received 10 nominations and I didn’t really enjoy that at all! So believe me when I say I don’t judge a film on the amount of awards it receives! I try not to have expectations when it comes to the cinema however it is almost impossible to avoid them entirely, so what can I say but that I was expecting to have fun whilst watching The Wolf on Wall Street – however the high energy that is portrayed in the trailers doesn’t not sustain the 3 hour running time.

Long story (and boy it was long) short, I was so bored during this film. I can recall around 2 scenes that I actually enjoyed in this film and that was it. I really tried to refrain from checking the time for as long as possible, and when I finally gave in the film was only coming to the end of its first hour.  There was absolutely no pace in this film and I could not be bothered with it, it lost my attention at an amazing pace! Several scenes in the film were so long too, this only added to the problem as I found it hard to concentrate fully for scenes at a time.  This is probably a personal issue of taste, I just didn’t find the story interesting. I can’t confirm this but I have been told that the film is quite an accurate portrayal of the actual events – whilst that is good the way I see it is that if the story isn’t that interesting in the first place is a 3 hour movie really necessary?

I am a big fan of Leonardo DiCaprio and he features in some of my favourite films, this is most definitely not a film I particularly enjoyed however what I can praise is his performance. His portrayal of Jordan Belfort was fantastic, despite this not being a character I liked at all I could still appreciate Leo’s great acting talent – he displayed such a range of emotions and personalities within this role and if Wolf is going to win any Oscar I would hope it would be in the Best Actor category.  Whilst this element can be praised there was so much of this film that I would never praise.  The glorification of drugs, money and sex is extremely vulgar  and offensive and begins right from the outset.  Although ultimately the negative side to this lifestyle is eventually brought out I feel that this doesn’t make up for the blatant positive presentation of these things, and then I wonder to myself why anyone would begin to award a film that does this? Although it may be a true story I don’t think that can justify many of the scenes in this film.

If I am to invest 3 hours of my life (or any amount of time for that matter) into a film I expect at least one of a possible several outcomes to occur.  I want to be entertained, I want to be made to feel certain emotions or I want to be left with thoughts to mull over and wrestle with, something that made an impact on me.  Unfortunately The Wolf on Wall Street did none of these things for me, whilst I can appreciate how well made and well acted the film was if it doesn’t fulfill at least one of the things I have mentioned for me there is just no point.

BIGGEST FLAW – It’s 3 hours long, this is seriously far too long IMO.

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT – Leo puts in a stellar performance

Rating – 3/10