“Savages” is being looked at as Oliver Stone’s comeback
movie, as if he hasn’t made one worth watching in years. Granted, movies like “World
Trade Center,” “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” and even “W.” made it look
like Stone was being too nice, but none of those movies however showed him to
be losing his power as a director. I guess we just miss him generating some
kind of controversy to be witnessed on the big screen.
“Savages,” based on the book by Don Winslow, shows Stone
getting down and dirty again as the movie deals with a couple of weed producers
who, unfortunately for them, capture the attention of a brutal and greedy
Mexican cartel. The movie doesn’t reach the exhilarating highs of Stone’s other
movies like “Natural Born Killers” or “Scarface” (which he didn’t direct but
wrote the screenplay to), but it’s still a compelling film to watch. Whether
you think the movie is among his best work or not, Stone doesn’t play it safe with
the story or its characters this time around.
Blake Lively stars as O (short for Ophelia) who begins “Savages”
by saying that just because she’s narrating the movie doesn’t mean she’ll be
alive at the end of it. It’s a clever start as Stone teases us with the
possibilities of what is to come, fully ready to take the rug out from under us
if the occasion calls for it. It’s nice to see any movie director attempting
that today.
O lives with her two boyfriends, former U.S. Navy SEAL Chon
(Taylor Kitsch) and University of California at Berkeley graduate Ben (Aaron
Johnson), who also happen to grow some of the best pot you can smoke. They live
their days in Laguna Beach, California which is so beautifully captured by
cinematographer Dan Mindel that it makes me wonder how long it’s been since I’ve
gone down there.
Anyway, Chon and Ben get a very cryptic message from the Baja
Cartel which comes along with a video featuring beheaded drug dealers which,
like these two guys, were independent sellers. Basically, the cartel wants to
go into business with them and take a cut of their profits. Chon and Ben
however refuse to get involved with any cartel, and they make plans to move out
of the country with O for a year or so. But the head of the cartel, Elena
Sánchez (Salma Hayek), believes these guys need to show her some respect, so
she gets her henchmen to kidnap O to make them comply with her demands. But
Chon and Ben are not about to let go of their O without a fight.
The movie’s title, “Savages,” makes you wonder who it refers
to among its characters. It’s tempting to think that it refers to the Baja
Cartel as they utilize horrific methods to get what they want, but it could
really be referring to any of the characters. Stone is examining just how far
we can be pushed before we are forced to embrace our animalistic nature, and he
gets at that horrifying truth of what violence we are all capable of when we
get pushed to our extremes.
“Savages” is far from original as its story will likely
remind many of their favorite episodes of “Miami Vice.” With a movie like this,
we might expect Stone to be pushing our buttons a little bit harder than he
does here. But even though you come out of it feeling that Stone could have
gone even farther with the violence, the action is jolting and at times
extremely graphic; one guy even finds one of his eyes hanging out of its socket
during a moment of torture. Stone also utilizes his many ways of shooting from black
and white footage to scenes of psychedelic power as characters find themselves
under the influence either by choice or by force.
Now I don’t care what anybody says, Blake Lively is a good
actress. Many seem to sneer whenever she’s in a movie, but maybe that’s because
she’s on “Gossip Girl;” a show I’ve never watched. Lively has to take her
character of O from being a fun seeking woman to one who has to learn to live
again, and she is excellent throughout. After her turn as a drug addicted
single mother in Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” there should be zero doubt that she
can act.
It’s been a tough year thus far for Taylor Kitsch who has
seen two big budget blockbusters he starred in, “John Carter” and “Battleship,”
bomb at the box office. Then again, those movies probably would have bombed no
matter who starred in them. With his role as Chon, he shows a toughness and
attitude that is not easily faked, and you can see why so many movie studios
were looking to cast him. Many actors yearn to play a ballbuster when given the
opportunity, and Kitsch rises to the occasion while giving a terrific
performance.
Aaron Johnson, who plays Chon’s more philosophical partner
Ben, seems to have grown up a lot between this movie and “Kick Ass.” Once
again, Johnson is playing a character who is eager prove himself and yet
completely unaware of what that will take. From start to finish, he does an
excellent job of transitioning his character from a peaceful man to a bloody
defender of what he loves.
But leave it to some acting demigods to give this movie its
potent power which nails us right into our seats. Benicio Del Toro is brilliant
as the sociopathic henchman Lado. Like the most entertaining sociopaths we see
in movies, Lado is at times charming while more often menacing and extremely
sick. He thinks nothing of killing people when the opportunity presents itself,
and Del Toro looks to be having a blast as he explores the different facets of
this character’s twisted personality.
And then there’s Salma Hayek who singes the screen as drug
queen Elena Sánchez. All Hayek has to do is give the audience one look, and you
know this is a person you do not want to mess with. She also gets a
surprisingly complex character to play as Elena’s ascent to being a big time
drug dealer had more to do with tragedy than it did with opportunity.
“Savages” also features strong performances from John
Travolta as a corrupt DEA agent, Emile Hirsch as the money launderer Spin, and Demián
Bichir as one of Elena’s representatives Alex. There isn’t a single weak
performance to be found here as everyone looks to be as thrilled as can be to
be acting in an Oliver Stone movie.
There has been some controversy over the movie’s ending as
it offers up two very different conclusions. The way it’s presented reminded me
of when Michael Haneke got one of his characters to grab a remote control to reverse
and alter the events in “Funny Games;” both directors are looking to mess with
our heads. While the fates of characters are not entirely resolved, it was
worth seeing things turn out the way they did as certain characters end up
getting very clever about the situations they are in.
Is “Savages” classic Oliver Stone? Not quite, but it is
certainly more potent energetic than some of the films he has made in recent
years. Give him the right story, and he can still give you a cinematic
experience like few others can.
* * * ½ out of * * * *
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