The competitive Wall Street world of high finance provides a platform for Jesse Eisenberg to go all out as an actor, from conspiring to get a time advantage to his falling part emotionally from the stress of what he is attempting. It is a role that enables Eisenberg to pull out all the stops.
The film by writer-director Kim Nguyen is built around a scheme that Eisenberg as Vincent Zaleski concocts with his spacey cousin Anton, played by Alexander Skarsgård. Michael Mando as Marc Vega has the tech savvy needed.
Vincent has been working for the company run by Salma Hayek as Eva Torres. She is not someone to cross. When she gets wind of what Vincent is up to, she musters her know-how and determination to wage a vigorous battle to foul up Vincent’s dream.
In the world of stock market trading time is of the essence. Vincent has figured out that by running a cable from Kansas to stock exchange connections in New Jersey, he can have a brief speed-trading advantage that can earn millions of dollars. But the engineering is formidable. The line must cross extremely difficult terrain above and below ground. A little thing like a mountain can’t stand in the way. Also required is a backer lured to cover mounting expenses.
With the battle lines drawn, we watch Vincent working feverishly and step by step coming apart. But will he succeed? The film works up a degree of suspense, but the entire scheme seems too outrageous to pull off from its very start. Hayek makes the most of her obstreperous role. A The Orchard release. Reviewed March 15, 2019.