Directed by Oliver Stone. Starring Shia LaBeouf, Michael Douglas, and Carey Mulligan. Rated PG. Opens Friday, September 24, at the Ridge Theatre and the Cinemark Tinseltown

Twenty-three years after director Oliver Stone launched the original Wall Street, greed just isn’t what it used to be. As Stone’s sequel opens, former corporate raider Gordon Gekko is still recovering from an eight-year prison sentence for a grubby list of white-collar crimes. The flashy suspenders are gone, replaced by the bland wardrobe of a middle-class dentist. The struggling Gekko—a returning Michael Douglas—is trying to stay afloat by shilling for a book he wrote in jail. Abandoned by family and friends, his only asset is the kind of financial savvy money can’t buy.

Still, that’s enough to win over Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf), an ambitious young broker who craves a mentor. What’s in it for Gordon? Jake just happens to be engaged to his estranged daughter, Winnie (Carey Mulligan). It turns out that Winnie is sitting on a secret $100-million trust fund set up by her father before the big meltdown. Although Gordon confesses that a bitter Winnie reneged on her solemn promise to stake his financial comeback, he swears he’s a changed man.

Falling under Gekko’s spell, Jake agrees to try and reunite him with Winnie. The $100-million question? Does Gordon want his daughter’s love or her fortune? What follows is a mixed bag of intersecting subplots, anchored by some truly fine performances. Opting for subtlety over bombast, Douglas is often touchingly vulnerable. But the sense of oily menace that made the original Wall Street so much fun is strangely absent. Stone puts a lot of faith in Josh Brolin—who falls disappointingly flat as hedge-fund manager Bretton James, the new Gordon. At more than two hours, this sequel is like an aging Rolex that has lost some of its shine. It’s still worth the investment, but don’t expect it to impress the way it used to.