Review of Savages (2012) by Nesbitt10 — 19 Jan 2013

A return to form for Stone's dark side,"Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" and "World Trade Center" were almost insultingly faceless, a definite problem for a director whose best films exude righteous anger. "Savages" generates ruthless energy, a battle between good and evil, except that everyone in it is evil, and the momentum generated by the savagery doesn't compensate for a lack-luster storyline.

California dudes Ben and Chon (Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch) are dragged into a turf war with the expansion-minded Mexican cartel run by Salma Hayek's drug-war widow Elena, and her brutally amoral deputy, Lado (Benicio del Toro). The Mexicans regularly show their power by creating and disseminating videos documenting torture and lots and lots of beheadings. Eighty miles over the border, in Laguna Beach, Ben and Chon supply their ultra-potent, genetically engineered strains to legal medical dispensaries but make their real money illegally shipping out of state. The product and its profits fuel the boys' lifestyle of neo-hippie decadence, embodied by the business partners' enthusiastic bedroom sharing of poor little rich girl turned eco-friendly, hippie Ophelia (Blake Lively). Both sides consider the other to be "savages"-which we know because they say it aloud repeatedly just in case we didn't catch it already.

Mexican Baja Cartel decides to move in and demands that the trio partners with them. When the merciless head of the BC, Elena, and her brutal enforcer, Lado, underestimate the unbreakable bond among these three friends, Ben and Chon--with the reluctant, slippery assistance of a dirty DEA agent (John Travolta), wage a seemingly unwinnable war against the cartel. And so begins a series of increasingly vicious ploys and maneuvers in a high stakes, savage battle of wills. Honestly, not that bad but not that good either, resulting in complete indifference on this one. A talented cast that doesn't feel fully utilized and a story that's not all that compelling. Soul is something "Savages" lacks and feels hollow, not least because Kitsch and Johnson, who take on lead roles, register as blanks on-screen. In contrast, Hayek and del Toro, both sporting apparently intentionally terrible wigs, give over-the-top performances who command our interest while committing heinous acts, and setting a record for number of beheadings in a single film.