Movie Review: The Big Short

*Let it be known, where there are reviews, there are spoilers.

Based on the 2010 book of the same title by Michael Lewis, The Big Short follows the events that led to the 2007-2008 financial crisis caused by the U.S. credit and housing market collapse.

Although The Big Short has a considerable all-star cast, locally the movie did not generate much response. Most likely due to its plot, which is more relatable to American citizens, or its subject matter, which non-financial individuals might find too complicated for their taste.

However, even with my limited knowledge of the housing and financial market, the movie did quite well in trying to explain some aspects of it. Using celebrities such as Anthony Bourdain and Selena Gomez, these sudden snippets managed to add some fun and liveliness in what could have been a long and dry 2-hour-plus movie. These bits are fairly short and far in between, but entertaining nevertheless.

As is famous with many Hollywood movies in recent years, The Big Short follows several characters as they each discover the instability of the housing market and the prediction of an immense economical breakdown. The movie swaps between the characters' stories constantly but is still easy enough to follow.

The actor you will probably remember the most after the movie is Steve Carell, who plays Mark Baum. As a well-known comedian, it is hard to identify the constantly angry, cynical hedge fund manager as the same actor in Get Smart and Evan Almighty. But Carell carries his role very well and as his story progresses, you find yourself feeling sympathetic towards him and start believing in his cause to take down the big banks.

Michael Burry (Christian Bale)

The least memorable for me is Christian Bale as Michael Burry, the first to discover the unstable housing market and the one who started the bets against the market. It is not a reflection of him or his real-life character, but perhaps the other roles were much more powerful compared to his somewhat weird yet subdued personality. His way of thinking is really interesting, though, and how he sticks to his guns amidst the pressure from all parties is admirable.

If it wasn't for the many times I have seen Brad Pitt's profile, I would have completely missed him in the movie. He was almost unrecognisable with all his facial hair. Similar to Mark Baum, Brad Pitt's character, Ben Rickert, is also disgusted with the corrupted financial institutions but is less vocal about it (and much more paranoid as seen by his methods of concealment).

Trying to film in the past is always hard, especially when you're filming on the streets and have outside factors interfering and revealing the true year. Here are some goofs that IMDB (the Internet Movie DataBase) noticed from the movie.

I would say that it is an educational movie that documents the unforeseen and highly unexpected fall of one of the most 'secure' markets. Other than that, it is a good documentary of the greed of men and how, as is the case with most political and economical situations in the current world, easy it is to sweep away all morals and principles when huge profits are imminent.

The movie will leave you feeling smart (hey, you actually learnt something historical) yet it will shake your belief in 'the system' as the conclusion will reveal that nothing had changed, even after the complete economy collapse caused by the huge scale of fraud.

Ben Rickert (a.k.a Brad Pitt in the film): If we're right, people lose homes. People lose jobs. People lose retirement savings, people lose pensions. You know what I hate about fucking banking? It reduces people to numbers. Here's a number - every 1% unemployment goes up, 40,000 people die, did you know that?