Savages

Starring: Blake Lively, Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Benicio Del Toro, John Travolta, Salma Hayek, Emile Hirsch
Directed by: Oliver Stone
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Thriller
2012

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Two small time drug dealers (Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson) go up against a powerful Mexican cartel when their girlfriend (Blake Lively) is kidnapped.

Review:

Tim: Oliver Stone is a really good director, but I have no idea what he was doing with Savages. This is such a stupid, frustratingly out of sync movie. I didn't enjoy watching it at all, and I felt like I was racking my brain, trying to figure out what Stone was trying to accomplish here. This is a throwaway movie, a completely forgettable misstep. This is a huge disappointment.

I have to say that I just didn't find the story compelling in the least. Our heroes are two drug dealers, but they're the entrepreneurial, "nice" drug dealers. They are really smart and have some of the best product in the world. The problem is that they aren't all that interesting. They even "share" the same girlfriend, which just came across as stupid and unnecessary. I have to admit I just didn't get it at all. These two are bland, one-dimensional (aww, but one of them tries to help kids in Africa! ugh) characters that never do or say anything truly compelling. Their girlfriend is boring as well. I thoroughly dislike Taylor Kitsch (I've never seen him do anything well, nothing at all). He did nothing for him here. He was average in every sense. I really like Aaron Johnson, and I applaud him for disappearing into this character. Fans of Kick-Ass might not even recognize him. Unfortunately, while his character was better than most, he still seemed lackluster and not well developed. Blake Lively added nothing to the film, and I still can't think of a single reason why they would be attracted to her. Her personality was dull as rocks in this film.

The supporting cast isn't much better. Benicio Del Toro is decent, but he's just a bit too over-the-top. He's played this same role over and over again, and I just want something different from him. I loved seeing John Travolta here, but he just had far too little to do. I never got a good sense for his character, and he basically sleepwalked through his scenes. I felt like his big scene with Del Toro was just far too forced and awkward. I actually love the idea of Salma Hayek as the main villain. She has a few good moments, but she just couldn't give a powerful enough performance to make the role her own. There were quite a few times when I just did not believe her in this villainous role. She didn't go dark enough. Oh, and the film also has Emile Hirsch, who does basically nothing. Stone assembles an impressive cast and gives them far, far too little to work with.

I felt like this whole story has been done numerous times before. Sure, the film gives these little twists to try to make it different, but it just doesn't work. I didn't care that our two protagonists have the same girlfriend and are cool with it. I didn't care that the main villain was a woman. Strip those cosmetic differences aside, and this whole film has been done before. There's also a big scene in the film that we invest time and emotion in, and then the storytellers basically say, "Naw, none of that actually happened, let's see the real event, which is 100% more boring than what you just saw!" How stupid is that? I was already horribly disappointed with the film, and that awful choice to fake the audience out ruined it even more.

I'm sure this film has its supporters, and God bless you if you can sit through this film and believe it's entertaining. I thought this film looked a little suspect, but I was completely unprepared for how much I would dislike it. As I said in the beginning, Stone is a good director, but he completely lost his way here. This movie just did not work on so many different levels. I admit that there's a few fun scenes sprinkled throughout (the attack on the cars was impressive), but they aren't enough to overcome the myriad flaws. Savages is just a movie that didn't work for me at all. That is a shame, but Stone is responsible for creating this mess.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5



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