Savages Reviews

I haven't seen that many Oliver Stone movies so for those of you who are fans of him I can't say how this compares to his other works. I will say however, that this is a big improvement over his last movie Wall Street 2 which was a complete bore to me. This has both critics and people divided so I can't say if you might enjoy this or not but, if your looking for something groundbreaking, you won't find it here.

As much as I enjoyed this, there is nothing new you haven't seen before. This is your typical run-of-the-mill revenge flick but, it's the visual style and twists along the way that set it apart from most films in this genre. However, there are some bumps along the way. The first is Blake Lively. Personally, I don't find her to be a bad actress like so many people have but, her performance here isn't all that good and she hardly has any chemistry with her two male co-stars. This was a problem because they are, after all, fighting to get her back. The next thing is, sometimes during the movie it becomes unnecessarily convoluted, especially the beginning monologue from Blake Lively's character. Sure, it was clever but, it was so complex and it felt like it didn't fit with the movie. This reminded me of last year's Contraband where it had a simple story but they made it so convoluted for no reason. It's not as bad here but, there are times when it becomes hard to follow. Lastly, is the ending. This took me by surprise, I never read the book so I'm not sure if it ended the same way but, you'll either love it or hate it. I'm in the middle, it's no where near as bad as some people make it out to be but, on the other hand it could have done away with the violence. No, it's not that I can't handle violence or anything it's just, to explain the ending in greater detail would ruin it for some. Once you've seen it you'll understand. Other than these issues everything is was fine.

With the exception of Lively, the rest of the cast was good. Benicio Del Toro and Salma Hayek were the stand outs in my opinion. Even though there was hardly and chemistry between Lively and her male co-stars, Kitsch and Johnson share the nice buddy chemistry that's surprisingly lacking in many films today. Though I wasn't rooting for them to get Lively back, I was rooting for them to get out of this mess.

Most of the character's are surprisingly well-developed, don't get me wrong they're not 3-dimensional character's but, they're well-developed enough for me to care about them. Like I said, I didn't care for Lively's character but, I think that has to do with her performance rather than the character itself. Even though Hayke is bad here, I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her as she loves her kids and she tries to keep them hidden for their own protection because of who she is but, they don't want anything to do with her even though she desperately wants to talk and see them all the time.

The movie is nicely-shot so no need to worry about the shaky-cam during the intense action sequences. We're also treated to some beautiful shots of California along the coast. The type of music for this kind of movie seems like it should be the heavy metal variety but, thankfully it's not. The music is nice and adds a nice touch throughout the movie.

Overall, this isn't a perfect movie. Blake Lively is a miscast, there's no chemistry between her and her two male counterparts, and the ending is a little disappointing. It's also more complex, which isn't a bad thing of course, but it doesn't fit well with something that's this straightforward and has a story as generic as this. Everything else is great, the performances from the rest of the cast, the action, the violence etc. This is a perfect movie for us adults and if you having nothing to do I'd definitely recommend this movie. Sure, it's messy but, it's entertaining and much better than a handful of movies within it's genre.

I have little positive to say about this film and to be honest I would rather refrain from writing anything lengthy to express how weak it is. The lead characters are far too uninteresting to care about, and their performances lack quality. The cliched, cheesy one-liners are so cringe-worthy that I was close to switching it off: "I have orgasms, he has wargasms!". The dialogue is poorly written at times and the plot is dull. Apart from Blake Lively looking very pretty, this film offers very little else. Surprising, coming from Oliver Stone.

The only thing of any interest in Savages is that it shows a polyamorous relationship working out perfectly well for all three involved. Other than that it’s a story about Mexican drug cartels and the corruption of the DEA told through a trio of vapid beach bunnies with nice, hard bodies. It comes complete with a checklist of stereotypical characters, lazy visual short hands and a cloying narration to wrap it all up for your viewing pleasure.

It tells the story of Ben (Aaron Johnson, yes please) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch, ditto), two surfer buddies who grow and sell weed and live with their mutual girlfriend O (Blake Lively, way out of her acting depth). Ben and Chon begin to encroach upon and get the attention of the Baja cartel, whom they swiftly anger. Next thing you know O gets kidnapped and the boys go on a rescue mission. If the plot had focused instead on the leader of the Baja cartel (Salma Hayek, turning in a great performance even when the script lets her down, which is often) we may have had something more engaging, exciting and unique here.

Savages may have three pretty but vacuous leads, of which only Johnson makes any kind of impact as an actor, but it surrounds them with a gifted supporting cast, that it doesn’t always know what to do with. Emile Hirsch is always a pleasure to me (for several reasons), and he always turns in good work. He’s given very limited screen time and nothing much to do, but at least he seems to be having some fun with the material. John Travolta’s character suffers from clichéd and lazy character motivations (he’s a DEA agent on the take because he has a wife with cancer) and even lazier visual shortcuts (we know he’s corrupt because he’s always inhaling junk food), but he does his best. His character’s penchant for ranting, raving and proving to be an excellent emotional manipulator offers him several chances to show that when he wants to act, he can be damn fine at it.

But other than sexy ciphers with no discernible personality traits, the other major problem with the characters is on the cartel side. Benicio del Toro is in full-on Grand Guignol mode, but his character is an assembly of stereotypical Mexican gangsters stitched together and given bizarre life not but the script, but by del Toro’s strange acting choices. Sure, he goes too far into theatrical, hammy, overacting, but it makes his character more exciting and lively that way. And Hayek is given a meaty role after years of playing bland supporting characters, but that comes with a hitch. Yes, her character runs the cartel and is a dangerous femme fatale in a Cleopatra wig, but she’s also a woman easily swayed by her emotions, needy, hysterical and every joke about a woman in power going crazy because of PMS and general female-ness shows it ugly head from time to time. Like del Toro she tries to reshape it through sheer acting talent, but there’s only so far one can take it beyond what was written on the page.

And in the end we’re treated to two different endings. One which seems like the logical, even if extremely violent, conclusion to the story, and the other which seems like some bullshit, tacked-on Hollywood happy ending. This schizophrenic two-tone mindset is like the film in microcosm. At once, very realistic, even if given a hyperbolic visual flair, and cartoonish, engineered of equal parts reportage and pulpy violence, yet it never sticks to one or the other long enough to matter. It’s serious one minute and cartoonishly over-the-top the next effectively killing the suspense and lowering the stakes. Savages needed the whacked-out Oliver Stone of Natural Born Killers to be anything remotely worth watching.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a great cast and since I have a weak spot for Oliver Stone's work, I thought I should give it a try anyway. Eventually, even though Roger Ebert was enthusiast (already the 3rd movie in a row this week that Roger is more enthusiast than me!), I thought it was a well made and decent drug feature but not much more than that eventually. I mean, there was indeed a nice cast (Blake Lively, Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Benicio Del Toro, John Travolta, Salma Hayek, Emile Hirsch) and they all delivered some decent performances, especially Travolta who is always awesome when playing such a sleazy back-stabbing SOB, the story unforunately never really reached its potential. Indeed, during the whole thing, they tried to convince us that we were watching something really hardcore but even if many people were killed or tortured, I never felt that there was much at stake after all. Maybe the two main characters should have been tougher, I don't know. It is interesting to note that Oliver Stone wrote 'Scarface' almost 30 years which has become the reference in this genre. I mean, Ben and Chon were both kind of nice and sweet but they were never spellbinding to watch like Tony Montana was and, as a result, even though the whole thing was fairly entertaining, it was also terribly forgettable. To conclude, I think we will have to wait a few more years before Oliver Stone really blows us away but, in the mean time, it remains a decent flick and I think it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Entrepreneur Ben and his best friend Chon have one of the premiere marijuana grow-ops in North America. Along with their shared girl friend O (short for Ophelia) they live comfortably and luxuriously. After the Mexican Cartel makes them an offer that the two men turn down, O is kidnapped and held until they agree to the deal. Ben and Chon being smart and resourceful begin concocting a plan that will get O back on their terms.

Savages begins with a narration from Blake Lively’s O and things get off to a rocky start, with some turbulent dialogue that does little to help establish O as the most important character of the film. There is never a sense of urgency in her words, especially when she says the line “Just because I’m telling you this story, doesn’t mean I’m alive at the end of it.” The narration continues to feel stagnant especially when the visuals are more than capable of showing the same thing she is saying. O remains the point at which the plot develops around, but as the film progresses she becomes less of a necessity and more of a liability.

It is everything else that seems to blend together just right for the R-Rated film. Very much intent on showing the ruthlessness of the Drug Cartel, Savages pulls no punches when it comes to violence, showing everything from brutal drawn out torture to quick and efficient murder scenes. Oliver Stone tries to balance the ruthlessness of certain characters, while completely reversing it for others. Del Toro’s Lado is bent on being a badass as he is involved in most of the scenes of brutal violence. Lado also becomes very much a contrasting character, where at times he was deadly with his words, and others times they played for awkward humour with his character. It felt at times as though his scenes with O were for filler space to simply remind us that there is something bigger on the line than just drugs.

With-in the mix of the over the top characters are Ben and Chon. Aaron Johnson’s Ben is the laid back of the two wanting to avoid the violence when it first happens. What really saved Savages a lot of the time was watching Aaron Johnson precisely show the right amount of anger, determination and fear. Ben was forced to go from confident and quiet to dangerous and determined and that fit really well with the situation being portrayed. Chon, played wonderfully as well by Taylor Kitsch started the film a hard ass and remained that way through-out, never questioning what needed to be done in order to save their love. Kitsch’s Chon delivered dialogue about accepting the idea of being able to fight for survival, and not since he portrayed Kevin Carter in The Bang Bang Club has Kitsch given a portrayal that really captures the essence of the character.

Savages ultimately is an enjoyable film, where the small imperfections are easily forgiven because it is really just another simple film. There is no real connection with any character other then Ben or Chon, and for the sake of a film that at times is merely just violent for the sake of it, that is a good thing. As the film progresses it seems like the characters and who they are as people becomes irrelevant. The writers could replace these characters with any character of the same formulaic nature and it still would have been the exact same thing. That is not to say the actors didn’t do a good job, because they did. This fault is primarily on the writers. Savages definitely is not a stand-out in drug related violence films. Nothing about Savages is very hard-hitting. It tries awkwardly to be political and shift the focus to corruption within politics and police work, but ultimately that becomes just another plot line that is executed with no real urgency or pay-off.

Spoiler Alert, the quote mentioned above becomes something different entirely near the end of the film. It becomes a what-if scenario, a mere fantasy idea of the ending based on the fact O is telling the story. It does come to a conclusion that is very lack-lustre and predictable for all the characters involved, which is just one more reason why Savages is not a stand-out film.

If you are into violent R-Rated flicks, Savages is a film worth checking out. Stay for the acting and the R-Rated violence, leave when you expect it to get deep and impactful because that is the one thing it never becomes.