This film takes a sometimes comedic stance at one of the worst financial crises in recent history
There are only a few films that over the years have wanted to evoke a strong emotion. The one that comes to my mind immediately is Quiz Show. It told an amazing true story about a TV program that was rigged and how two old contestants dared to try and take the network down for what they did to them. Let’s just say once this film was over my stomach was in knots and rage filled my heart. If you have seen this film you will understand what I mean. The Big Short did the same thing for this writer and it is a film that tells the tale of a terrible crisis that happened a number of years ago.
The movie takes audiences back to 2005 when a man named Michael Burry ( Christian Bale) saw something really wrong with a ton of loans given by banks to build up the housing market. He feared it was all going to crumble down and he decided to invent something called a credit default swap which was new and a huge risk. Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) wanted a piece of the action and put a lot of money into this type of default swap with some of the big banks in the city. This caught the attention of Mark Baum ( Steve Carell) who was an angry man who was tired of everyone getting screwed over and decided he had enough and chose to put money into the same kind of swap. Two old school friends Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock) and Charlie Geller (John Magaro) who own a small company also wished to be a part of this huge financial venture and ask the help of an old friend named Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) who knows everything about Wall Street. The film only builds up pressure from here with all of the people with different jobs in finance who see that something huge is going to happen that will affect a ton of people. What is going to happen that is so awful? How do these people hope to be saved by this credit default swap? And will this risky venture even work?
This is a powerful movie. It does a really good job of telling this true story in a way that people can understand. It finds many clever ways to break down the financial jargon in silly and sometimes comedic fashions that are just genius methods for putting this story on a simpler plain. The cast all work like a well lubricated locomotive that all are doing they best they can to try and not get crushed by the oncoming danger that is looming in the near future. The soundtrack is just wonderful with tons of great songs and a score that fits in this movie like a tight glove. It is a movie that most people will enjoy and some may find to evoke old emotions that have yet to fully heal.
This movie gets 8/10. This was a hard story to tell and it could have easily come off as a boring drama but luckily this did not happen. There are some funny moments when cast members will talk to the audience but this always made sense and sometimes adds to the comedy of an all too serious scene. It will not be for everyone with very little for kids to enjoy but other than that it is a movie worth seeing this weekend.
If you enjoy a good drama this is the movie for you. If you want to see the truth of what happened with this crisis this is the film that will gladly tell you the whole. The Big Short comes out this Friday.
Watch the powerful trailer here: