An average movie

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.

6/10