Savages (2012)
Certified: 18
Duration: 131 minutes
Directed by: Oliver Stone
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Blake Lively, Salma Hayek, Benicio del Toro, John Travolta, Demián Bichir, Joaquín Cosio, Emile Hirsch, Sandra Echeverria
KRS release
Savages has all the controversial Oliver Stone trademarks in the style of his Natural Born Killers (1994) and U Turn (1997). And it is this excessive, no-holds-barred attitude that makes this film such a great watch.
A flashy film that lives up to its title, especially in the gore-hungry character of Benicio del Toro
This adaptation of Don Winslow’s acclaimed 2010 crime novel never shirks away from presenting us with a flashy film that lives up to its title, especially in the gore-hungry character of Benicio del Toro.
Ben and Chon (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Taylor Kitsch) have a very unusual family. They are two very good friends who share a girlfriend called Ophelia, O in short (Blake Lively). She has sex with both as their marijuana business thrives in Southern California.
Their ‘stable’ life is threatened when Elena (Salma Hayek), a Mexican drug lord, claims a slice of the pie.
She delivers them a message through her lawyer Alex (Demián Bichir). But her offer is refused and she retaliates by having O kidnapped.
The kidnapping is carried out by the fierce Lado (Benicio del Toro).
The two men get help from Dennis (John Travolta), a phony FBI agent and a computer whiz kid named Spin (Emile Hirsch). The plan is to set up a member of Elena’s crew and also kidnap Elena’s daughter Magda (Sandra Echeverria) who is estranged from her mother.
Stone keeps the lid screwed on tight on the usual political stance that his films adopt and here he focuses on presenting a violent thriller that has every ingredient the genre usually has.
The characters in question are not particularly likeable, not even the heroes; after all these are drug dealers. However, the film does not require us to like them but rather to follow them in a spiral of events that is simply beyond anyone’s control.
The plot is a double-dealing trail galore that I really enjoyed, with one over-the-top twist after another. It’s as if we are given a window view into the life on the wrong side of the road where a plethora of bad guys and girls vie against each other in the evil stakes.
Travolta steals the spotlight while seeming to have a really good time with his excessive character.
Del Toro is revelling in his character, who is as despicable as they come, and has a screen commanding presence.
Hayek plays her character as if she was spawned from a Mexican soap opera and is fun to watch.
All three actors deliver such outrageous turns that they place the younger cast in the shade.
However, this is Stone’s film and he knows it as he plays with his audience – changing, tricking out and tinkering with the film’s structure at every possible moment.
His vision is helped by cinematographer David Mindel, who delivers a colourful film that seems to be an almost hallucinatory trip; this perfectly suits the subject matter.