However, through the whirlwind trading floor sequences, viewers can get an understanding of how quickly fortunes can be made or broken and the real-world stakes at play.

| May 14, 2025

Rogue Trader is a terrible waste of the talents of Ewan McGregor.

| Mar 11, 2015

Nick Leeson, as the tale goes, was the man who had everything -- intelligence, charm, dream wife and job -- and spectacularly lost it. Unfortunately, Rogue Trader fares little better.

| Mar 11, 2015

Its plot alone is potentially fascinating, but as it stands, Rogue Trader remains notable only for the potential it squanders.

| Mar 11, 2015

Both McGregor and Friel turn in excellent, sympathetic performances.

| Mar 11, 2015

The pace is slow, the film only really picking up right towards the end, with too little, too late, but a dynamic central performance from McGregor keeps you watching.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 11, 2015

Try as he might, Dearden can't stir the movie out of sluggishness, and given that we already know its infamous conclusion, there's no suspense.

| Mar 11, 2015

Succeeding neither as a dissection of rampant egoism nor as a critique of the British class system, and rooting shamelessly for its notorious protagonist, this not-so-cautionary tale about the perils of white-collar crime is a piece of cinematic puffery.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 11, 2015

Patchy but worthy.

| Mar 11, 2015

Unfortunately James Dearden, who wrote and directed Rogue Trader, ignores all the enticing genre possibilities and turns out a plodding biopic, featuring a central character with all the depth of the despicable yuppie from the Audi commercial.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 11, 2015

Rogue Trader fails to get beyond the sensational headlines which [Nick Leeson's] exploits inspired at the time.

| Jun 18, 2012

Rogue Trader ends up looking simply passe, an '80s yarn in a '90s setting, at a time when money-market characters have long ceased to be heroes for the media or the general public.

| Mar 26, 2009

No one else involved in the film is able to match McGregor's conviction.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 28, 2006

McGregor puts his all into the role; his sweating earnestness, however, isn't enough to break the overall inertia, and the rest of the cast are simply bystanders.

| Feb 9, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 23, 2005

a superb story, simply but effectively told

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 18, 2005

An intriguing true story, a magnetic lead actor, and yet the result is pancake-flat.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 29, 2004

Truly, truly boring.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | May 31, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 23, 2003

The story is there, but we have lost its central figure behind the sham of dramatic compromise.

| Mar 5, 2002