It's no surprise that Scorsese is associated with the gangster genre with films such as The Departed, Goodfellas and Casino, of which the last two are possibly the best pure examples of the genre. In Goodfellas the gangsters are dangerous but they operate on a more underground level, in Casino they practically run a major city and can do whatever they like. The gangsters were and will always be a part in America's system. Now, the gangsters are not just accepted by the system, but are considered to be an integral part of it. In the first two films, the gangster is threatening and dangerous, but avoidable. In The Wolf of Wall Street, he's calling to hustle you at home and you don't even know it. Some people view The Wolf of Wall Street as a glorification of Jordan Belfort's lifestyle and want to be like him, as Scorsese portrays this life by its nature, enticing. That's the way it works, and it's impossible to portray it accurately without showing how a charismatic man like Belfort can suck an unsuspecting person into a world of money and fame. The film though, shows us just how empty and destructive that life can be.
There is an undeniable similarity between the instantaneous joy, energy and euphoria that we have while watching The Wolf of Wall Street and how Jordan Belfort lives his life, this is a movie where the director skillfully mixes form and content to create an experience which is as hyper and as instantly ecstatic as the life of its flashy and opportunistic characters.
The direction by Martin Scorsese which still has infectious energy and power is impeccable, there is no other director who has mastered pacing like he has. This is a three-hour movie that moves lightning fast and always manages to keep the audience invested in the story throughout the whole duration. Each scene is packed with so much visual information, and it is fast paced and quickly edited, which complements the general tone of the film. The cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto is gorgeous as well and displays an optimal color palette throughout the whole film. Each shot also looks precise, even during some of the more chaotic scenes.
The script is fantastic, filled with many great and memorable lines of dialogue. Every character has a well-defined arc and motives, and the story is given proper breathing room to blossom. The performances are also exquisite, especially Leonardo DiCaprio who gives one of the best performances of his career and portrays the opportunistic nature of Jordan Belfort's character with great commitment as you can see a lustful, hedonistic and impulsive sex & drug-addict man who only wants to have more fun. Supporting him with equal passion is Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff, Belfort's sidekick, and even he manages to make a mark of his own. Margot Robbie plays Naomi, Belfort's second wife and she does an alluring job in her given role. Matthew McConaughey is in for a very short duration as Mark Hanna, Belfort's mentor, but even in that little time, he is the show-stealer and he dominates the screen unlike anyone else.
Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter set out to create a film about the Wall Street excess, and by definition, it contains an excessive amount of everything, such as cursing, sex, nudity, drugs, alcohol and partying. But the film is not really about those things. The story of The Wolf of Wall Street boils down to money, that "most-addictive drug" Belfort speaks of, and not just what it can buy, but what it can do to people. Not just how it changes one's lifestyle but the effects it has on one's morals, beliefs, and values, and how it can effectively change not just how a person thinks and feels but how they operate at their core.
With a collection of truly incredible films, The Wolf of Wall Street stands out as one of Scorsese's best films, my personal favorite and by far his most humorous film to date. He truly went all out and it paid off in a hilarious satire on the reverence of money, drugs, women, and the admiration of a criminal money-maker. The Wolf of Wall Street is maddening cinema that's already high on coke but still continues to snort more white powder every 5 minutes for 3 hours. This is a fascinating vignette of excess, greed, abuse and decay and it's one of the best movies of the decade and surely one of the most entertaining movies ever made.
