Chris Reviews Savages

Oliver Stone has always been kind of hit or miss for me because while I love films like JFK and Wall Street I equally disliked Alexander. His latest film Savages falls somewhere in between. The film is extremely flawed but has some redeeming qualities that make it worth watching.

Savages tells the story of two friends who manufacture and distribute marijuana. They both share the same girlfriend and form a very odd love triangle. When a Mexican drug cartel wants to absorb their business, they decline and the cartel captures their girlfriend to make sure they join. All in all it is a very formulaic crime drama that I had figured out about 20 to 30 minutes into the movie. To make up for this, the film tries to weave in several sub plots to make the story seem more complicated but it just gives the film a very disorganized feeling.

The film also suffers from underdeveloped characters, the two guys and the girl are continually overshadowed by the supporting cast and are just downright boring characters. That being said the supporting cast is pretty darn good. Benicio Del Torro gives a memorable and creepy performance, and John Travolta and Salma Hayek are good as well.  

Savages is a well made, sporadically violent but formulaic crime drama. It suffers from a very convoluted plot, formulaic writing, very bland lead characters and is just really boring throughout most of the film. That being said there are some positives such as the supporting cast and the sporadic but funny humor, but in the end Savages is just another forgettable crime drama that you can wait to watch when its at red box.

MY RATING

3 out of 5

Chris "Da Franchize" Hart