Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson play a threesome at the center of Oliver Stone’s SAVAGES
SAVAGES (Oliver Stone, 2012)
Opens Friday, July 6
www.savagesfilm.com
Based on the 2010 book by Don Winslow, Oliver Stone’s Savages is a sort of Jules and Jim meets Breaking Bad by way of Pulp Fiction, Saw, and Blow but falls far short of all of those far superior works. Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson star as childhood friends Chon, a former Navy SEAL with a violent streak just waiting to explode, and Ben, a surfer dude who is making the most potent pot around. They live with and share O (Blake Lively), a carefree woman who loves them both as they run an easygoing marijuana operation in Laguna Beach. When Elena “La Reina” Sanchez (Salma Hayek), head of the vicious Baja Cartel, gets wind of Chon and Ben’s extraordinary weed, she first sends her lawyer, Alex (Demián Bichir), to them to make a deal, but when they reject it, they next have to face the dark, brooding Lado (Benicio del Toro), who enjoys such things as torture and killing. As the film spins out of control, its only saving grace is the occasional appearances of John Travolta as Dennis, a pleasant but corrupt DEA agent who just might know a lot more than he’s telling. The primary problem with Savages is that it is filled with characters who are hard to care about in any way or have sympathy for at all, whether they’re over-the-top evil or treacly sweet. Each side calls the other savages, and because that is indeed true, the film feels lost from the start. Once again Stone shows himself to be an immensely talented but frustrating filmmaker choosing style over substance. But things significantly improve whenever Travolta is on-screen, playing Dennis with a wry sense of humor and un-Travolta-like hair.