Review: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (12A)***

It returns Michael Douglas to Gordon Gekko, the role that justifiably netted him an Oscar in 1988.

Yet precious little remains of the soulless money-making machine who authored the destructive mantra that "greed is good". Instead, Oliver Stone (helming his first sequel) makes a fundamental mistake in seeking to humanise the reptilian corporate raider.

Thus this cold-blooded reptile morphs into a tired old man who yearns to re-connect with his estranged daughter after his release from prison for dodgy dealing. The catalyst for this is Jake Moore (boy wonder of the moment, Shia LaBeouf) who is romancing Gekko's Left-wing daughter.

Of course, she wants nothing to do with the greying monster, seeing him only as a Mephistophelean villain. But Jake sees Gekko as a route to committing revenge against billionaire banker Bretton James (Josh Brolin, on icy form), the man he blames for the suicide of his elderly mentor (Frank Langella in a nice extended cameo).

Thus young Turk and old lag form a partnership. Between them they seek to achieve their various goals and agendas.

This is a simple tale of vengeance masked beneath the complexities of the banking arena. It is awash with jargon that will doubtless thrill traders, brokers and investors for whom the stocks, derivatives and commodities represent life itself.

Yet Douglas/Gekko has lost his bite. He's switched from reptilian to strangely vulnerable. He was The Man. Suddenly he's Mr Nobody. LaBeouf lacks the punch to balance Douglas, and Carey Mulligan, as Gekko's daughter, barely registers as the emotionally damaged girl who remains his only living link to his notorious past.

This is a disjointed, scrappy picture that in attempting to update and evolve the story of Gordon Gekko only serves to underline how much Wall Street was of its time.