Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Savages


Oliver Stone’s Savages is a mild return to maniac form. For more than a decade, Stone has cooked up safe character studies (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, World Trade Center, W.), surefire duds (Alexander), and excellent documentaries that hardly anyone saw (Looking for Fidel, Comandante). Not since his excellent Any Given Sunday has Stone made a movie as charged as the drug drama Savages. And make no mistake, Savages is Stone flexing his madasscraziness, problem is, he’s not flexing hard enough.

Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and Ben (Aaron Johnson) are two high level marijuana growers/dealers who both share the love and physical intimacy of O (Blake Lively), the free spirited woman who (pointlessly) narrates the film. Shortly into the movie, Chon and Ben are made an offer they can’t refuse by Alex (Demián Bichir, perfect in his restrain), a suited thug who works for Mexico’s strongest cartel, Elena (Salma Hayek, in her best role since Frida). Elena wants the boys to work for her, and in return, they will make a great deal more money. But Ben (a strict Buddhist) wants out of the game, so refuse the offer he does. In return, Elena has her go-to enforcer, Lado (Benicio Del Toro, stealing every scene) kidnap O as a means of convincing the men otherwise. They react by trying to get O back, and, you get it.

Savages is bogged down with plot to a fault. There is, frankly, a lot more going on here then there needs to be. But some of what is going on here, mind you, is pure Stoneian bliss.
Take, for instance, every single thing Benicio Del Toro say and does. Lado is a scruffy, even-keeled psychopath who always keeps us guessing. And laughing. In one scene, he and Alex examine a crime scene, during which Lado sips through the green straw of his large Starbucks beverage. What’s perfect about this is that a.) We have a filthy drug lord drinking a posh Starbucks drink, and b.) We have to picture this filthy drug lord actually standing in line and ordering said posh beverage. It’s brilliant character devices like that that make Lado one of the best roles Del Toro has ever had.

Equally as crazed (or is it panicked?) is John Travolta, who plays a federal agent willing to trade info for info with Chon and Ben. Without giving too much away, Del Toro and Travolta have a scene together that is by far the best moment in the movie. It’s scary, funny, and completely unpredictable. It almost makes the film worth it.

Almost.

Look, the acting across the board here is pretty solid. Those of you who have only been exposed to Kitsch’s recent John Carter and Battleship disasters (and not his revelatory work in Friday Night Lights), can trust that his Savages performance is a step in the right direction. Chon is militant, precise, and exacting, and Kitsch fleshes him out well (not great, but well). I have slightly less positive praise for Johnson (best known for his lead roles in Kick-Ass and Nowhere Boy). His Doing-It-All-For-Love drug dealing philosophy isn’t nearly as convincing as Chon’s no hold’s barred approach. It also doesn’t help that Johnson’s British accent is evident in nearly everything he says.
I’ve been a huge admirer or Blake Lively’s since her career-changing work in The Town. She’s good here, and I’m excited to see what she cooks up in the future. The rest of the supporting cast, as mentioned, are all utterly perfect.

Flaws with Savages are completely story based. At 131 minutes, it feels 20 minutes longer than it needs to be. It also switches from being wildly violent to flat out boring. Stone makes polarizing films, so if I say Savages is more like U-Turn and less like Natural Born Killers, some may take that as praise while others may balk. From where I’m sitting, Savages is an uneven film that I wish Stone would’ve made 15 years ago, when he wasn’t afraid of anything. C+

25 comments:

  1. I don't know. Stone has been a total letdown for me for years. Plus, I have a very low opinion on Blake Lively who was one of few things in The Town I didn't like. Plus, hearing her narrate a film would be a chore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Man, so I really am the only person I know who completely dug her work in The Town, huh? Maybe it was because I had literally never seen her in anything before, and I had this perception of her as some untalented kid actress trying to "make it real." Her performance in The Town definitely proved me wrong. Weird.

      To be fair, her narration here isn't constant, it's only every now and again, but it is completely pointless and unnecessary. I did enjoy her acting work though. But I agree, Stone has been kind of a letdown as of late.

      Delete
    2. I liked her in The Town, she was really great and for some inexplicable reason I did see season 1 of Gossip Girl :)

      Delete
    3. Nice, yeah I thought she was a perfectly sultry and trashy in The Town. Boston at its finest haha.

      Delete
  2. Lively's narrative takes this film down a lot but the rest of the performances make this film a lot better than you would expect from another Stone "drug movie". Good review Alex. Could have been a whole lot better but not terrible, and that's good considering what Stone has put out in the past decade.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup, completely agree. This is good not great (even thought it could've been great). Just a little too long and tame.

      Delete
  3. it's a very unorthodox film, but that's what i like most about it. i realy appreciated this film.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Stone makes unorthodox flicks for sure, and I really dig that about him. I definitely appreciated it as well, I just wish there was... more, you know?

      Delete
  4. Excellent review, I'm definetly seeing this one - can't wait to see Hayek and Del Toro's work. I do love U Turn so is it safe to assume I'll like this one?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you'll like this one, yeah. It isn't as crazy as U-Turn, but it's definitely nuts. Del Toro makes the entire movie worth it. He is fantastically insane.

      Delete
  5. I have to admit, I really didn't know what to make of Blake Lively aside from her killer bod and great fashion sense. But she certainly displayed that she has potential in The Town. I think she's kinda like R-Patz where she has to constantly prove herself because of her looks.

    In any case, I might rent this one for Aaron Johnson, it's just too brutal for me to see on the big screen. I had to close my eyes even during the trailer!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I definitely think Lively's looks work against her, in terms of people taking her seriously as an actress (which is really such a shame). Not sure about R-Patz... people really seem to think he's "got it" but honestly, he's been dog shit in everything I've seen him in, which is more than I'd like to admit haha. Hopefully Cosmopolis proves me wrong.

      Yeah, if you aren't in the mood for brutal, I'd definitely skip this one for now. Parts of it are crazy brutal, for sure.

      Delete
  6. Great review, Alex. I might try to catch this one at the cheap theater this weekend, but I won't be going into it with high expectations. Now I want to know what this Travolta/Del Toro scene is all about, haha.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh that scene is priceless man. Just two guys completely going for it. Some may call it overacting, but I think they knew EXACTLY what they were doing and EXACTLY how far they could push it. One of the best acted scenes so far this year, in my opinion.

      Delete
  7. Great review Alex, I am really curious to see it, mostly for the supporting cast. I get what you're saying about Lively's performance in The Town, but she is in my top 2 I-can't-stand-this-woman-she-is-so-annoying-please-let-me-punch-her, alongside Jennifer Aniston, so I will probably suffer whilst seeing this movie, but I will endure for Hayek, Del Toro and others.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahhaa, see, you ARE funny.

      If that's how you feel about Lively, Savages may not work for you. She's all over it, pointless narration included. But I definitely think the supporting cast makes up for it!

      Delete
  8. I can't think of a film with an ending as idiotic as the one this one had.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought the first ending was absurd, but the "real" one was pretty generic. I was apathetic about it, but I can see why people would not like it.

      Delete
  9. I haven't agreed with most of what you've said here Alex but I've enjoyed reading you as always. I hope when you read my review you forgive me for my comments on Blake Lively and it is counteracted by the link I throw your way. Also incase you have any interest in the brilliant source material I reviewed it yesterday.

    blahblahblahgay.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/savages.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm surprised you think we don't agree - just read your review and it seems like we agree a lot. I like Lively more than you, but I think our thoughts are pretty much aligned here. Aaaanyway. Christ, I hope Stone gets back to making, you know, good movies again.

      Delete
    2. I took an overall positive tone from your review then despite the c+ rating. I was just discssing the Stone problem with thevoid in my comments. I think he needs to go indie, learn to work with a much smaller budget. I used the Friedkin with Killer Joe example. To me that was the kind of film Stone should be making now.

      Delete
    3. Oh man, I couldn't agree more. I'd love to see a Killer Joe-esque Stone film.

      Delete
    4. But would he do it through choice? Looking back at U-Turn I think that was the last (only?) time he worked small and he achieved a slightly messy but very good film. Very Stone but small in scope. I get the feeling Hollywood needs to turn their back on him though, he seems addicted to the power.

      Delete
    5. I can't wait for his 10 part American History miniseries. That dude has such a batshit way of thinking, but he can communicate it so articulately. Be really interesting.

      Delete
    6. Despite not being American that does sound interesting. The kind of thing that people might actually be educated by rather than put to sleep. More talented film makers should direct educational videos.

      Delete