Rogue Trader (1999)

Sadly Over-hyped

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

For having a relatively low budget, the film's style and overall art direction are immensely impressive.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Considering what the movie is based on, I was expecting this movie to be a dull movie set in offices and banks, I'm pleased to say I was pleasantly surprised. Ewan McGregor turns in another good performance as the infamous and beleaguered Nick Leeson the trader whose underhanded trading tactics, dishonesty, desperation and plain greed brought down Barings Bank. The movie is also an insight into the fast paced world of stocks and shares trading,and showing it for what it is, glamorized gambling, not much different than a casino when your luck can change in the blink of an eye. The soundtrack adds an ominous feel to the action as Leeson's lies and deceit ultimately end up catching up with him, with devastating consequences for those who trusted him. In summary this movie is well worth a watch and should serve as a warning to live within your means and any risks you take with finance should be calculated.

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.

The story of Nick Leeson's contribution to the collapse of Barings Bank is a definite cash-in on the whole sorry story, and I have a bit of a problem with that. OK, so Leeson, he says, made no money from his gambling on the Singapore stock market - but he certainly made money from his autobiography and this film of it. That leaves a nasty taste, somehow.Euan McGregor is fine as Leeson - he doesn't make the character likable and manages to put across some of his motivation for rising in his organisation and then biting the hand that feeds. The story is presented in such a way that you're supposed to feel sorry for Leeson - but you don't. Maybe that is a failure of the film, but he is so arrogant you can't feel anything but a smile when fate finally catches up with him.Well-shot as the film is, it is as empty as the soulless job of working the trading floor. It puts across the coldness of the stock market, where money becomes just another set of noughts, not really real, very convincingly, but is this really enough to make it a good film?

A cunning scoundrel in exotic Singapore single-handedly brings down Barings Bank, established two centuries ago and one of England's foremost financial institutions. Another wildly improbable sting flick? Not at all - the story is based on actual events and the film sticks pretty close to the facts. Nick Leeson, brilliant and ambitious young trader, superstar of the Singapore stock market, incurs staggering losses. Unwilling to jeopardize his prospects for advancement, he tries to cover his tracks by pulling non-existent rabbits out of imaginary hats. The literally gut-wrenching stress of this Sisyphusian endeavor is illustrated by Leeson's frequent bouts of vomiting (while in prison, he underwent surgery to remove a tumor along with part of his colon and large intestine, and chemotherapy after being released). The film's flaw is that it glosses over the bank's role in the disaster. Barings turned a neophyte loose in an foreign arena with total control of the operation and minimal supervision. Putting the same individual in charge of both the front office and back office bypasses the appropriate checks and balances, and is tantamount to having the fox guard the hen-house. The official report of the Bank of England concluded that Barings' failure to segregate Leeson's duties was "reprehensible," and those with "direct executive responsibility for establishing effective controls must bear much of the blame." Yet little mention is made of this in the film. And the mechanizations of the stock market are downright incomprehensible at times. Nevertheless, this is an interesting story and Ewan McGregor turns in another outstanding performance.