Rogue Trader (1999)

Memorable, crazy movie

Don't listen to the negative reviews

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Young English investment broker, Nick Leeson, distinguishes himself in his bank's Jakarta office and his reward is an assignment in Singapore, where he unwisely manages both the trading floor and the office operations. His first year is a big success with huge profits, despite some some questionable practices to retain an important client. However, he also establishes an 88888 account, which makes his employer, Baring Bank, into a customer, and he crosses the line again with forged documents to verify a large non-existent transaction. Based on a true story, "Rogue Trader" may confuse those whose vocabulary does not include puts and calls, options and futures, commodities and derivatives. Written and directed by James Deardon from Leeson's autobiography, the film uses extensive voice-over to share Leeson's thoughts and feelings as his illegal activities spiral out of control. Even Leeson seems stupefied and astounded at the magnitude of the damage he has wrought.Ewan McGregor does well as Leeson, and, for those McGregor fans who want all the Ewan they can get, Deardon offers extended shots of the actor in shorts, bathing suits, completely nude, and bare-assed. Anna Fiel plays Leeson's wife, Lisa; she is passable in an undemanding role and exposes less flesh to the camera than her co-star. Drinking binges, euphoric highs, and emotional lows provide McGregor with a showcase for his talent; if only the film were worthy of him. "Rogue Trader" is not a bad film, but confusing at times, and narration is a lazy device. Filmed in Singapore where the story took place, the movie is a cut above TV fare, but only a small cut. Without McGregor the film would be less worthy of watching; with him, "Rogue Trader" is a passable take on a famous crime.

"Dies Bildnis ist bezauberd schön"this was my title!The movie is constrained and limited to one side of the story. I do not think the movie was entirely successful, but the theme was pretty clear. Do we really know what we really want? Nick Leeson saw a picture and he tried for it. Of course in the movie, pretty much every one else was doing the same thing. I am sorry, your guidelines are bullshit. I quoted the title of a sound track item. I am no more to say. Post this as I have written, without the comment to you. IMDb policy sucks, IMDb policy sucks, IMDb policy sucks.

If you're into stock trading and if you've read Nicholas Leeson, it might help you enjoy this movie. If you're not, you might need to view a couple of times before the story grows on you.I'm still not sure how I can summarize best the story for you: Ewan McGregor plays Nick Leeson, a stock trader for England's Fairbank is given a mission in New Delhi. He builds up a team with people who know nothing about stock trading and together they'll play with the Nikkei. As they're "playing", mistakes are made by Nick's team and he wants to cover them up by opening up an account called "88888". Soon, he'll start gambling with the bank's own money. Unfortunately, the losses grow bigger and bigger until the bank goes broke.Since there is no real action, and it's really told like a story and not like a movie, you really have to rely on the actors' skills to appreciate the movie.

When the movie was first out, Ewan MacGregor was a total unknown, until of course the Star Wars prequels came out. Then at the time stock markets was in the boom and the bust were, just something to be ignored. That was basically what happened when the movie was first out. This movie should mellow and get better reviews. At the time, it was therefore not well received, now many years later 2007. I have a chance to look and their risk control in derivatives trading were shockingly non existent and being in the stock market myself it is no wonder the Barings Bank get busted not as soon as they should. Lack of auditing, lack of controls, risk psychology, doubling up, and not learning from mistakes are all signs of absolute disaster. Learn from this movie, while not as funny as Trading Places, this is the story as close as a real bust might have occurred. A good learning experience, even if Nick Leeson is not learning his Lessons.