Movie Review: Savages

As much as I love movies, I have seen next to none of Oliver Stone's films. What I do know about his films is recently they haven't particularly well-received. Savages should put an end to the streak for his fans.

Savages puts Stone back in his comfort zone. This is a gritty crime drama that is much more in his wheelhouse than the only other Stone film I've seen (the terrible football drama Any Given Sunday). It's clear his touch as a director is much more suited towards this type of film than the other types of drama he's been churning out recently. He thrives off of pitch-black, seedy storytelling and Savages is full of just that. Savages deceives it's audience a bit with it's action-heavy trailer. While there is action in it, This is a definitely a pretty slow movie in the first half. It takes a while for the characters and the stakes of the situation to unfold, but it's worth the wait. Once the Mexican cartel is introduced and O (Blake Lively) is kidnapped the movie really gets going. It moves along at a steady pace from then on and is good throughout, until the last 20 minutes when it becomes great. The last 20 minutes are utterly fantastic. There are some interesting turns near and during the climax that makes this movie a lot better. For me the ending made the movie. It's completely unexpected and I really enjoyed that it was open-ended and didn't really explain much. A lot of people are going to be pissed off at the ending (I heard a few groans in my theater last night), but I liked that it wasn't what you expected for a movie like this and it made me enjoy the movie quite a bit more. The acting is scattered in terms of quality in this film with performances ranging from alright (Taylor Litsch, Blake Lively) to good (Aaron Johnson, Salma Hayek) to excellent (John Travolta, and especially Benicio Del Toro who steals the show from everyone as the Mexican drug cartel's enforcer). Despite no one doing a poor job, the acting is simultaneously one of the films biggest drawbacks and strengths. Savages isn't perfect and it's a film that requires patience to be rewarded, but it's definitely worth the wait. It's able to blend a solid storyline with some standout acting, sequences of insanely graphic violence (There isn't that much violence in the movie overall, but when it happens it's very gruesome ) , and a fantastic ending that makes you think afterwards. Oliver Stone shouldn't stray from making these types of movies again, He's a natural when it comes to dark stories like this and his direction benefits this film a lot. Savages will no doubt polarize audiences (just like it did critics), but i found to be a great movie and I like it the more I think about.

4/5 Stars