Rogue Trader
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Movie Reviews of Rogue Trader
Movie Review: Interesting Material. Bland and Shallow Presentation.
Summary: 3 Stars
"Rogue Trader" is based on the book of the same name by Nick Leeson and journalist Edward Whitley, which covers the events that caused the insolvency and eventual sale of the venerable Barings Bank to ING for £1 in 1995. Leeson was the inept derivatives trader who lost over £200 million of Barings' money that ballooned to nearly £1 billion as Barings was forced to sell its positions. Like the book, the movie "Rogue Trader" tells the story from Leeson's perspective. Leeson (Ewan MacGregor) sorted out some problems with bearer bonds in Barings' Jakarta office and was rewarded with his own derivatives department in Singapore. He was supposed to be arbitraging Nikkei futures for client accounts. But he actually took huge long positions with the bank's money, which tanked when the Nikkei took a dive after the earthquake in Kobe, Japan.
Leeson used various fraudulent accounting practices to cover up his losses and string his positions along for a while. His superiors at Barings didn't ask questions as long as the profits looked good on paper. Leeson blamed them for the losses, accusing his aristocratic employers of being stupid and so embarrassed by their ignorance of modern finance that they didn't ask questions. So it's no surprise that the folks at Barings are presented as dolts in this film. It's unclear exactly how the filmmakers want to present Nick Leeson. He was, after all, one of the most incompetent traders ever -and one of the biggest crooks. People don't get much dumber. So I'm not sure it's wise to have Nick narrate the film or to take the perspective of his book, seeing as it is the perspective of an idiot and a criminal.
This could have been an interesting cautionary tale, but its perspective is too narrow and disingenuous. We spend an hour and a half watching a guy worry about his positions. Occasionally, a stuffed shirt at Barings interjects a half-hearted attempt to figure it out. The state of Nick's marriage and his emotions are irrelevant. There are more interesting things to say about why a reputable bank put itself in the hands of a narcissistic duffer with no prior derivatives experience. "Rogue Trader" needs a broader perspective. Banks do entrust fast-talking upstarts with too much money. They don't always understand the intricacies of the financial instruments they deal in. And low-risk methods of making money are simply inadequate. Hence, debacles like this one. But the story "Rogue Trader" presents is shallow and trivial. Anything meaningful must be read between the lines. English captions are available on the Miramax 1999 DVD.
Movie Review: mystifying
Summary: 3 Stars
In the early 90s, Nick Leeson found himself working in Singapore as a poorly-supervised options trader on behalf of Britain's storied Barings Bank. His defalcation in this capacity (to the tune of over 1.3 billion dollars) led to Baring's unexpected collapse and about 6 years of jail time for the miscreant.
While behind bars, he wrote a story of his life entitled "Rogue Trader." This movie is heavily based on that book.
As for the quality of what you're getting here, I have to say the whole thing's a bit puzzling.
On the surface, there seems nothing wrong with this movie. The acting is all fine, the directing fine, the script fine. In theory the subject matter is interesting and the filmmakers make no obvious blunders.
Yet it's one of those movies that has so little to recommend it that months later you probably won't even be able to remember watching it.
Can't quite put my thumb on why: I've read Leeson's book and found it entertaining in a grisly sort of way.
But here we have a movie, and a movie that simply doesn't work.
Is that because Leeson's story simply does not lend itself well to the medium of film? Is is because the whole thing is predictable and there really aren't any twists? Is is because what Leeson was doing was so complicated that, despite the valiant efforts of the filmmakers, you spend the entire movie more or less in a fog? Is it because the movie contains a scarcity of people to root for?
Whatever the case, you can definitely find something better to do with two hours of your time.
Movie Review: More excuse than expose, but slick enough
Summary: 3 Stars
Rogue Trader is a surprisingly slick and enjoyable number just as long as you can overlook its very distant relation to truth about the downfall of Barings Bank in the wake of massive losses and fraud perpetrated by one of its Singapore traders. There's at least two generations who grew up never realizing that producer David Frost used to a vicious satirist, and this is the movie equivalent of one of his interviews, going along with his subjects' account of events no matter how outrageous the excuses become: here he seems to have blown several million pounds providing a celluloid alibi for a dodgy dealer. Thus Ewan McGregor's Nick Leeson becomes a loveable cockney who only got into this mess to save a bullied colleague's job and to save managements' bonuses without disappointing his wife or the memory of his dear old mum. You keep on expecting him to break out into a chorus of Chim Chiminey or start dancing with animated penguins (he's certainly got the blazer for it). Still, with recent events in France the film has aquired a new topicality.Movie Review: EWAN MCGREGOR MAKES THE FILM!
Summary: 3 Stars
Any movie with Ewan McGregor has deserves some credit. He is such a talented and versatile actor that his presence lends almost any movie some credibility (except maybe the horrendous Eye of the Beholder). This film tells the true story of an English stock trader put in charge of handling his bank's positions in Asian markets from Singapore. To all outward appearances, the guy has it all-he is young, successful, newly married, and is seen as the most promising young talent in his bank's organisation. However, due to a string of unfortunate choices and mistakes, he is concealing some financial problems he thinks he can fix with just a few good days in the market. However, the Asian financial crisis dashed all his hopes and his bank went under. He was imprisoned in the mid 1990s. McGregor gives an outstanding performance here, giving a tense narration of the course of events that lead to his character's inevitable downfall.Movie Review: The Stock Market? Ho-humm......
Summary: 3 Stars
I have to admit, when I popped this movie in the DVD player, I wasn't all that enthusiastic about seeing it. But if anyone can make the stock market and investing interesting, it ought to be Ewan McGregor, right? Wrong! Even an energetic actor like McGregor had trouble making a stock portfolio sound fascinating. Sadly, the boredom of watching his character sit at a desk and fret could have been overcome if there had been a real attempt at doing a character study of Nick Leeson and what really made him tick. There had to be more going on beneath the surface of this man than just an attempt to cover for one of his employee's mistakes. But you never really get a glimpse of who he is. On the level of simply getting a buzz from watching my favorite actor, McGregor, it was nice. But I just kept thinking--oh, if only the script had given you something to work with! Too bad.