Leader Of The Pack. The Wolf Of Wall Street.

Martin Scorsese on drugs: "I did a lot of drugs because I wanted to do a lot, I wanted to push all the way to the very very end, and see if I could die."

Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio's character in Wolf Of Wall Street: "On a daily basis I consume enough drugs to sedate Manhattan, Long Island, and Queens for a month. I take Quaaludes 10-15 times a day for my "back pain", Adderall to stay focused, Xanax to take the edge off, part to mellow me out, cocaine to wake me back up again, and morphine... Well, because it's awesome."

Martin Scorsese is 71 and has just made one of the best films of his distinguished career with a vigour and vibrancy that shames just about about every contemporary director who has ever stolen from him, which is all of them. Yes, The Wolf Of Wall Street. is "Goodfellas with brokers" but that's not the sort of thing you can knock out in your sleep. This is the work of a master still very much at the top of his game and his best work for two decades.

It's a three hour film about stockbrokers.  Nobody wants to see a three hour film about stockbrokers but Scorsese leads you into temptation and shows you their orbit of greed and excess and fantasy and makes it all seem so attainable and seductive without judging and then builds everything to a final scene punchline that is just brilliant; holding up a mirror to the audience and telling you more about yourself than you might want to acknowledge.

There's vicarious thrills to be had here for sure, even though it's three hours of horrible people being horrible; three hours of contempt; three hours of men being shit to women. This is how these people are. Their world hasn't come crashing down. They're still out there and still taking your money. Some parts of the audience will aspire to this life; what's more frightening is that maybe some part of you will too.

Scorsese himself is no stranger to excess and I think he recognises a lot of himself in Dicaprio's character and is effectively wrestling some autobiographical demons out on film. You suspect that the self indulgence of a few brokers pales into insignificance compared to the decadence of Hollywood. Scorsese, I bet you, has been there, done that and will sell you the T-shirt.

Leonardo won't get an Oscar for this, but he is on a career roll at the moment and anchors this film without ever being showy. For the most part he basically repeats Ray Liotta's wiseguy act with a little less charm. He has a wonderful standout scene that shows he could switch to physical comedy effortlessly. Jonah Hill shows he can stretch himself in serious roles, Margot Robbie does wonders with a thankless part. Every scene of this film contains more wit, class acting and focus than the entire extended running time of 'American Hustle'.

It's a fun ride, a rush of cocaine to the system and will have you asking troubling questions about why it all felt sooooo good.