''Assault on Wall Street'' (also known as ''Attack on Wall Street'' and formerly known as ''Bailout: The Age of Greed'') is a 2013

action thriller The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

film written and directed by

Uwe Boll Uwe Boll (; born 22 June 1965) is a German filmmaker. He came to prominence during the 2000s for his adaptations of video game franchises. Released theatrically, the films were critical and commercial failures; his Alone in the Dark (2005 film), ...

and starring

Dominic Purcell Dominic Haakon Myrtvedt PurcellO'Connor, B,Break Out". '' Men's Fitness''. December/January 2007 Issue; retrieved 18 December 2006. (born 17 February 1970) is an Australian actor. He is best known as Lincoln Burrows in ''Prison Break'' (2005� ...

, Erin Karpluk,

Edward Furlong Edward Walter Furlong (born August 2, 1977) is an American actor and former teen idol. He won Saturn and MTV Movie Awards for his breakthrough performance at age 13 as John Connor in James Cameron's 1991 science fiction action film '' Terminato ...

and

Keith David Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his deep voice and screen presence in over 300 roles in film, stage, television, and interactive media. He has starred in such films as '' The Thing'' (1982), ''Pla ...

. It tells the story of a security guard who struggles to pay for his wife's medical bills and loses his investments in the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, prompting a shooting spree on

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

after his wife takes her own life.

Plot

During the

, a portfolio-manager instructs his employees to neglect the best interests of clients in order to increase company profits. Meanwhile, Jim Baxford (

), an armored car driver and former soldier, lives with his wife, Rosie, in New York City. Rosie is in the process of recovering from a near-fatal brain tumor. Their health insurance has reached its limit, and Jim finds that he is unable to afford her treatment. He decides to cash in the

pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...

he earned from serving in the military, but learns that much of it is lost as a result of bad investments on the part of his financial adviser. In addition, he finds himself in a $60,000 lawsuit as a result of bad real-estate investments conducted by his rogue financial adviser. Jim frequently lunches with a colleague in the armored car business, and two NYPD friends. He borrows $10,000 from the colleague to pay for an attorney to sue his financial adviser, and arranges a meeting with an assistant district attorney to discuss wrongdoings on the part of his financial advisers. However, the attorney he hired claims that he is unable to do anything and the assistant district attorney is unwilling to meet with him. Jim becomes frustrated at the loss of his money and his inability to pay for his wife's treatment and their mortgage. Because of his financial situation, his employer reluctantly fires him, as the company is not willing to trust him with large sums of money. Rosie feels guilty for the financial strain that her illness has put on Jim and, unable to cope, commits suicide. Jim blames

financiers for ruining his life. Seeking vengeance, he purchases various firearms and grenades from an arms dealer, and begins a one-man army shooting spree on the Wall Street bosses that lost his money and contributed to the death of his wife. One by one, he kills those that have wronged him. Meeting with his friends at lunch, Jim casually admits to them that he is the Wall Street murderer. The three laugh it off, convinced he's joking. The climax of the film has Jim staging a one-man assault and infiltration of a high-rise office building to confront and kill Jeremy Stancroft, a ruthless and greedy portfolio manager who is indirectly responsible for Jim's financial situation. Sitting at Jeremy's desk, Jim tells Jeremy why he is targeting him, of his corruption and asks why he should let Jeremy live. Jeremy defends his actions, saying that the famous rich people of history didn't get rich by honest work and that

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

is a

survival of the fittest "Survival of the fittest" is a phrase that originated from Darwinian evolutionary theory as a way of describing the mechanism of natural selection. The biological concept of fitness is defined as reproductive success. In Darwinian terms, th ...

society, where the "strong survive and the weak die off". Jim shows him a picture of his wife and tells Jeremy he's the reason his wife is dead. Shortly as

SWAT A SWAT (''Special Weapons and Tactics'') team is a generic term for a police tactical unit within the United States, though the term has also been used by other nations. SWAT units are generally trained, equipped, and deployed to res ...

begins to approach the office, Jim puts the gun on the table and counts to three. Jeremy grabs the gun when Jim gets to two, bragging about how he "won". Jim accuses him of cheating. Not caring, Jeremy pulls the trigger, only to realize that the gun is empty, for Jim cheated too. Just then, SWAT smashes the window and shoots Jeremy dead. Jim pretends to be an innocent wounded victim, having been shot in the arm by a security guard earlier, and is escorted away by SWAT, who is convinced Stancroft was the perpetrator. A few minutes later, Jim stands in the lobby of the office building. He watches emergency personnel come and go, having just been treated for the gunshot wound to his arm. He is recognized there by his NYPD lunchmates, who had been called to the scene. Without a word, Jim is led out of the building by his friend to the street, to freedom. The film ends with Jim walking away, voicing over that he intends to continue his killing spree of white-collar businessmen elsewhere.

Cast

as Jim Baxford * Erin Karpluk as Rosie Baxford *

as Sean * John Heard as Jeremy Stancroft *

as Freddy *

Michael Paré Michael Kevin Paré (born October 9, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the films '' Eddie and the Cruisers'' (1983), '' Streets of Fire'' (1984), and '' The Philadelphia Experiment'' (1984), and on the series '' Star ...

as Frank *

Lochlyn Munro Lochlyn Munro (born February 12, 1966) is a Canadian actor. His most notable film roles include ''A Night at the Roxbury'' (1998), ''Scary Movie'' (2000), ''Freddy vs. Jason'' (2003), ''White Chicks'' (2004), ''The Predator (film), The Predator ...

as Robert Canworth * Tyron Leitso as Spalding Smith *

Mike Dopud Mike Dopud (, ''Мајк Допуђ'') is a Canadian actor, stuntman, and former gridiron football and ice hockey player. His best known roles include Vic Hadfield in the miniseries '' Canada Russia '72'', Jason Micic on ''Power'', Kimbo Comst ...

as Tom Allgard *

Barclay Hope Barclay Hope (born February 25, 1958) is a Canadian actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Clifford and Claudius Blossom on '' Riverdale'', Mike Hayden on '' Street Legal'', Peter Axon on '' PSI Factor'', Col. Lionel Pendergast on ''St ...

as Ian Marwood * Heather Feeney as Mary Jean *

Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. He has amassed more than 700 film and television credits since his debut in 1978, making him one of the most prolific English-speaking screen actors of all time. Roberts' career ...

as Lawyer Louis Patterson * Hiro Kanagawa as TV Host * Michaela Mann as Myra * Carrie Genzel as Debbie *

Jerry Trimble Jerry Trimble is an American martial artist, actor, stuntman, youth motivational speaker and former world kickboxing champion. Trimble played Detective Schwartz in the 1995 film ''Heat'' and Jonny in the 1989 film '' The Master''. Career Trimb ...

as Andy *

Clint Howard Clinton Engle Howard (born April 20, 1959) is an American actor. He is the second son born to American actors Rance and Jean Howard, and younger brother of actor and director Ron Howard. His more than 200 acting credits include feature films ...

as Chuck Neehey *

Michael Eklund Michael Eklund is a Canadian television and film actor who is known for playing the role of the villain or antihero. His characters are often described as being "creepy". His roles include a kidnapping, kidnapper who terrorizes characters playe ...

as MacKay * Natassia Malthe as Molly

Production

Background

Director Uwe Boll was inspired by a song by Distant 2nd called "Murder on Wall Street" and wrote scenes in the movie to incorporate ideas from the song. He began work on the film in 2010 and did a lot of research into the

. Around this time, Boll spoke with victims and people affected by the crisis and also started talking to a professor in the bailout commission in Germany.

Filming

''Assault on Wall Street'' was shot on location in and around

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, and also in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Director Uwe Boll stated in an interview that even though he was given permission to shoot scenes in New York, he was not permitted to shoot in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

or the subway. Even though there were these obstacles whilst filming in New York, Boll states that he shot the movie "guerrilla style" and still filmed in places that he was unable to get a permit to film in. Boll stated that "The good thing is in New York, everybody is very busy so you don't have people paying a lot of attention to you if you shoot somewhere".

Reception

The reaction to ''Assault on Wall Street'' has been mainly negative. Despite this, it was better-received than most of Boll's films.

References

External links

* {{Uwe Boll , state=expanded 2013 direct-to-video films 2013 action thriller films 2013 films Canadian action thriller films American action thriller films 2010s English-language films Films set in the Great Recession Canadian films about revenge Films set in 2008 Wall Street films Films shot in Vancouver Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films directed by Uwe Boll Financial thrillers English-language Canadian films 2010s American films 2010s Canadian films English-language action thriller films