WARNING: SPOILERS GALORE
In a delightfully twisted opening scene, you have a game of darts where midgets replace darts.
The writer, Terence Winter & director Martin Scorcese take the all important call of staying as loyal to the book(of the same name) by Belfort as possible. As a happy result of this, much of DiCaprio’s dialogues which come straight from the book are admittedly profanity ridden and crass at many places yet full of the devil-may-care attitude, quick wit & irreverence that have become the hallmark of most Scorsese films. The downside being that some of the misadventures seem like a figment of Belfort’s fertile imagination and make the screenplay seem contrived.
Scorsese is in great form here and what is surely a testament to his genius, one constantly struggles to keep up with the frenetic pace at which the movie moves. The mercurial editing, the surreal slow motion shots, the fetish for provocative dialogue, the brutally engaging narrative style are all in evidence here. Not to forget the pulsating OST which like most Scorsese helmed soundtracks is an eclectic mix ranging from hip hop( Cypress hill) to rock and roll(billy joel, foo fighters) to blues icon Bo Diddley & the jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal. Finally, it is Dicaprio who gives what is arguably a career best performance as the charismatic & talented yet reckless bordering on sociopathic stockbroker.
Vaguely reminiscent of Alex from Stanley Kubrick’s surreal’ A Clockwork Orange’ as Jordan Belfort, DiCaprio is ballsy by nature, completely in love with himself, shamelessly greedy for money, drugs and sex. No scruples. No remorse. No guilt pangs. No qualms of redemption. Without a doubt, it is one of the most black characters written in a Scorsese film. And should get him a nod when the Academy Awards are announced in a few weeks time.
This is the fifth collaboration of Scorsese and DiCaprio, the others being Gangs of New York( brilliant in parts) Shutter Island( interesting, but that’s it) Aviator( indulgent and flawed) and Departed(fantastic but suffers in comparison to the original Chinese film, Infernal Affairs) I dare say, this is their best.