After waiting so long to do the follow-up to his 1980s masterpieces, Oliver Stone must have known that there would be a heavy weight of expectation on this movie. The fact that he's been able to create a film so similar and yet so different from the original, and a damn fine film in its own right, is a great credit to him.
Lets be clear, this is not quite as good as the original, but then Wall Street is perhaps one of the greatest movies of the 1980s, and one which perfectly defined the decade in which it was set. This sequel isn't as razor sharp as the original move, not as fast paced, and not such a visceral experience. But that actually works to its favour. Stone is reflecting that we don't live in the 1980s anymore, and he's not portraying that world anymore. There are lots of nods to the original movie, lots of nice bits of style, and where he needs to echo the original to make the point that the same mistakes are being made driven by the same greed, he does so. But this is a much more contemporary film with much more contemporary characters.
Shia LeBouf is fine is this movie. It would be generous to say he's a lot more than that, but he's no worse, and when you put it up against stuff like his performance in Transformers its a major step forward. In truth he's just a thread to tie the other characters to, and in that role he works. Frank Langella is excellent, Carey Mulligan isn't called on to stretch herself here but is perfectly good, and Josh Brolin is absolutely excellent. As for the main reason for seeing the movie, Douglas as Gordon Gekko again. He is just superb. He's less the powerhouse that he was in the first movie, but its superbly judged for the plot and the times, and the character's development through the movie is superb. His speeches still leave you in awe of Gekko.
These days, Greed may not be good, but Oliver Stone still is.