Savages

Reviews from the Dark Side presents
Savages
Released 7/6/12, now in theaters

Director, Oliver Stone, returns to theaters this weekend with his latest thriller, Savages. Savages is based on the novel of the same name by Don Winslow. The cast includes Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Blake Lively, Salma Hayek, Benicio del Toro, and John Travolta.

Ben (Johnson) and Chon (Kitsch) live a fantasy life due to their thriving marijuana business. Ben is a graduate of Berkeley double majoring in business and botany. He's a Buddhist who has an aversion to violence. Chon, on the other hand, has absolutely no problem with violence. He's a former SEAL with tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. He's also haunted by his experiences in battle. Ben and Chon met in Laguna Beach years ago and became the best of friends. They own a beach house in Laguna Beach, expensive cars, and have tons of cash. Both also have an intimate relationship with the same woman, O (Lively). They grow the best weed on the West Coast and intentionally try to stay under the radar of the large drug cartels. However, when you have the best growing methods, distribution channels, and product, you can't stay hidden forever. Ben and Chon are approached by agents of the Baja Cartel led by the ruthless, Elena Sanchez (Hayek). Elena rules with an iron fist primarily due to her psychotic enforcer, Lado (del Toro) who may or may not be totally on her side.  The Cartel wants a piece of Ben and Chon's business.  When they refuse, O is kidnapped and held to make the partners comply.  Knowing that the three of them won't make it out alive even if they produce for the cartel, Ben and Chon launch a plan that includes misdirection, theft, a crooked DEA Agent (Travolta), and a kidnapping of their own to turn the tide.

One thing I liked about Savages is the depth added to the some characters in the film.  Elena is a ruthless drug lord, but we discover that she was thrust into this role reluctantly.  She develops a pseudo mother/daughter relationship with the kidnapped O partly because her living children want very little, if anything, to do with her.  She's a tragic character who has motivations beyond the simply evil ones she developed out of necessity.  Even the slimy DEA Agent is not on the take for greed alone, although that is at least half his motivation.  He has a family that he is desperate to protect even if it means playing on both sides of the fence in this war. 

What I wasn't crazy about in Savages was the ending.  I've never read Winslow's book so I am uncertain if the film is true to his text.  The ending just seemed a little too clean considering all the volatile personalities involved in the final showdown.  I guess it's a good ending if you are a sucker for happy ones.  I don't mind happy ones necessarily, but given the blinding violence through much of the movie, I was kind of expecting a "blaze of glory" type of last stand.  We are introduced to another possible ending through a type of dream sequence.  It would have been more apropos considering the bond between Ben, Chon, and O, if not also very weird at the same time. 

Savages isan entertaining, if not spectacular, summer movie.  If there are any summer blockbusters you haven't seen to date that interest you, it would be good not to skip them in favor of this.

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

***stars

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit! 
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Good viewing. Much better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. Could possibly foot the price of a non-Matinee.
5 *= Pure eye candy. Hall of Fame material here.