Review of Savages (2012) by Omar L — 26 Dec 2012

"You don't change the world; it changes you.".

It's refreshing to see Oliver Stone do something that's entirely different. I sense that this was a break for him and a chance to have a little fun. If you're looking for substance then look elsewhere. If you're looking for fun then this is worth watching. Starting off with the bad - The three main leads are dull, not very believable in their acting, and I didn't really care what happened to them. The female lead Blake Lively was a bit boring and her narration was downright terrible. I'm hard pressed to think of a worst voice over in a film. I'm sure the three leads would fit in perfectly in one of the fast and the furious movies, but not so much with this one.

The good - the story is entertaining, the veteran actors all did a great job, and Benicio Del Toro is pretty damn good as one of the main villains. Salma Hayek still looks as good as she did in "From Dusk till Dawn", and John Travolta is very believable as a corrupt DEA agent that's caught in the crosshairs. The most disappointing aspect of this film is that you know this could have been a lot better if the three main characters were re-written with more depth and replaced with actors that could size up with the veteran actors. In and of its self this is worth watching at least once.