Margin Call, a long-dark-night-of-the-soul in a Lehman Brothers-like investment banking company might pack more of a punch had it been released a few years ago, but could it have been? We’ve now had films such as Enron, Inside Job and Client 9, ensuring that our repulsion with the greedy bankers will remain part of the zeitgeist.  JC Chandler’s impressive first feature is a thriller that humanises the men (and one woman, Demi Moore) who see the end of their dream, but makes it impossible for us to forgive them.

It all starts when the Risk Assessment Department is being downsized with much nervous speculation as to who will go. The second in command, 19-year-veteran, Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci), is among those targeted.  Two women, including Sarah Robertson (Moore), inform him that he’ll receive six months of half his salary and his share options. Later we learn that Dale, who has just bought an expensive new house in Queens, must realise that his share options might not be worth enough to pay the mortgage.

Dale’s attempt to warn Robertson of the urgency of what he is working on falls on deaf ears. But as he is being accompanied to the lift by a security guard, he hands junior analyst, Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto), a file and warns him to ‘be careful’.  Then Dale disappears down the lift where, to add insult to humiliation, his phone is cut off. While his colleagues celebrate their survival, Sullivan stays late. When he sees the implications of Dale’s programme, his face looks like that of a camper coming across Michael Myers in the woods.  Something in his voice persuades his hard-edged, cynical new boss, Will Emerson (Paul Bettany) to return to the office. Within minutes, the long serving Head of Sales, Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey) is called in.

Sullivan’s discovery sets the stage for this well-crafted film in which we watch the top brass grapple with the issue of damage control. By the time CEO, John Tuld’s (Jeremy Irons), helicopter lands on the roof like the horseman of the Apocalypse, we’re thinking of that line from Evita, ‘When the money keeps rolling in, you don’t keep books.’  This dark knight, however, can only save the company by reminding his troops of his motto: ‘Be First, Be Smarter, or Cheat’. They know it’s too late to be smarter and the remaining options will destroy the market.

The damage control exercise is what brings out the best and the worst in the group and gives Chandler, who also wrote the taut, well-paced script, the opportunity to entertain us with humour, pathos, cynicism and wonderful ironic touches. In a running gag, those who shoved Dale unceremoniously out the door, now realise their top priority is to get him back (he knows too much). Since they cut off his phone and he’s not at home, patrols are despatched to search the bars.

Another running gag is that the most senior men in the company, Tuld and Rogers, are not only digital dinosaurs but understand very little of the technical aspects of the business. It’s for 28-year-old Sullivan, who has a PhD in physics, to explain what is going on. The wonderful Jeremy Irons, in inspired casting, is intrigued by Sullivan’s exposé, hiding his shock behind his suave, controlled demeanour. ‘So you’re a rocket scientist. How did you end up here?’ Sullivan, replies, ‘Well, it’s all numbers – just a different way of adding them up.’ After the meeting Tuld finds the firm a scape-goat.

There are some false notes, primarily in Chandler’s emphatic use of metaphor. ‘It’s a long way down,’ comments young analyst, Seth Bregman (Penn Badgley), when he, Sullivan and Emerson are gathered on the roof. ‘Yes, it is’, Emerson reflects, with his mind on his career and income, not storeys. Another is when Roger’s 43-year-old boss (Simon Baker) reflects, ‘It’s like a dream,’ and Roger’s replies, ‘I don’t know; I feel like I just woke up.’ 

But Chandler’s doesn’t allow even Rogers to wake up completely. If David Mamet had written a movie about the financial collapse it might be something like Margin Call.  Led by Kevin Spacey’s splendidly nuanced and sympathetic portrayal of the world-weary Sam Rogers, he allows his characters to battle with what consciences they have.  Rogers wants no part of Tuld’s plan but his life style won’t allow him to quit. ‘It’s his home’, a Rogers sobs to his bemused ex-wife, as he symbolically buries his dog on the lawn of the multi-million dollar mansion they once shared.

Perhaps Chandler’s greatest achievement is to have created a perfect modern tragedy for our times.  The characters, for all their soul searching, humiliation, lessons learned and being brought to the brink, retain their addiction to making money. The minions, who will be sacked in the afternoon, execute the dirty fire sale when promised seven-figure bonuses to hit the target. Even Dale forgets his pride when lured back by the promise of making over $100,000 an hour for remaining silent.