MOVIE – SAVAGES

Shane | 22 November 2012 | Reply

Directed by Oliver Stone, Starring Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Blake Lively, Salma Hayak, Benecio Del Toro, John Travolta
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
6.5/10

Oliver Stone bounces back onto the big screen with an interesting – though fairly one dimensional – story about a lovable threesome (in every sense of the word – Kitsch, Taylor-Johnson and Lively) who happen to grow the world’s best marijuana in L.A.

Hayak is the Mexican cartel boss who wants them to share their botanical know-how, and sets her wolf (Del Toro) on them when they respectfully decline.

Before you can say “Dia de los muertos”, heads start rolling, Travolta’s dirty cop is playing both sides, Lively is held hostage and war is declared over their 33% THC crop.

Everyone reverts to their base instincts and gets violent along the way – innocents and guilty alike are killed, character development outside of the main cast doesn’t exist, and of the big names, the two relatively unknown male leads give the best performances.

Travolta’s manic and desperate scene when confronted by a bloodthirsty Del Toro is a great turn from the balding big name, and Del Toro is a convincing psycho throughout.

One dimensional isn’t necessarily a bad thing from the guy who has made a career out of proselytizing his political and financial agendas. In fact, Savages only message is that we all have the capacity to descend into savagery with the right motivation.

** SPOILER ALERT **

The false ending is a complete fail – perhaps Stone shot both then couldn’t decide which to use, but with one clichéd and the other anti-climactic, perhaps he should have come up with something more interesting altogether. Regardless – either would have been better than including BOTH!

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