Logline:
Pot
growers Ben and Chon face off against the Mexican drug cartel who kidnapped
their shared girlfriend.
Cast:
Blake
Lively, Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Benicio Del Toro, John Travolta, Salma
Hayek
Directed
by: Oliver Stone
I decided I'd go back and review some recent
material that is still in theatres. Because I started my blog mid-late summer I
missed out on some good ones. Time to back track just a little bit.
Savages is supposed to be director Oliver Stone's
(Platoon, Natural Born Killers)
return to the dark side of filmmaking that he was once known for. It is also
based off a highly acclaimed novel written by Don Winslow.
Review
Savages takes 40 minutes to actually dive into
storytelling. Due to the absurdity of its logline and a bit of extra length
added on to the run time, this kind of makes sense. They spend a lotttt of time
showing the relationship between Ben, Chon, and O in order to make it somewhat
believable.
During this time the cartel interferes with their
aspiring marijuana business and basically tells them, you work for us now. Ben
doesn't want to get involved with pissing these people off - they already sent
them films of men with their heads chopped off. Chon on the other hand is a war
vet and doesn't show any weakness. They decline to work with them, but plan on
getting out of the country as soon as possible.
During this time, Lado the boss of the cartel's force in
California, wreaks havoc around town until given orders by the head of the
whole cartel, Elena, who tells him to kidnap O to make sure they give in to
demands. This is a clear cut high stakes story in which Ben and Chon are forced
to comply with the cartel and every minute wasted is a minute in which O is
being held captive. Makes for a pretty interesting story no? Drugs, Sex,
Kidnapping, Heads chopped off, Cartels, High Stakes, etc. Oliver Stone's return is definitely dark.
Topic
of the Day
Savages
was going well and I was enjoying most of it.
However, there was an ending that I'd expect
from a rookie director who doesn't know any better. Not from Oliver Stone.
Never ever ever ever ever ever ever have a duel ending. There is a reason why it has never worked.
So, they've kidnapped Elena's daughter and they're making an exchange
with the cartel for O to be returned to them unharmed. They do it in a valley
in the dessert where both sides have snipers on opposite cliffs. The exchange
turns into a bloody massacre as both sniper squads fire at each other and the
two groups from the vehicles on the bottom do the same. O ends up brutally murdering
Lado for raping her while she was kidnapped, Ben takes a bullet to the neck,
Elena is capped down by Lado. With Ben on his death bed, Chon and O inject suicide needles and they all die together rather than living without Ben.
CUT TO:
O saying thats how she imagined it.
REWIND TO:
The beginning of negotiations where the FBI rolls
in and Lado gets away in his SUV. Everything is completely different and
everyone is alive at the end. Elena is taken in by the FBI and Ben & Chon
are back with O.
This brings me to my point of the day. Do not
make the audience feel like they are watching a movie. Instead, make them
dive so deep into the story that when it's over they want to either keep
watching or they need a moment to think really deeply about what the story
meant to them. DO NOT everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr make them think they are
watching a film while there is still more story to tell. By showing an ending
and then cutting back to another one, it made me realize it was a film that I
was watching. Knowing this, the ending just didn't have any punch to it for me.
It also took away O's sweet revenge, leaving me feeling unsatisfied that she
never got it. It also left me unsatisfied because the ending with everyone
dying was actually pretty good. I indulged myself in a story for 2 hours only
to watch the last 11 minutes of the movie feeling like I was cheated.
Main
Critiques
The film is filled with great performances. Benicio
Del Toro absolutely kills every scene that he is in. His face as creepy as it gets and his
dialogue made Lado a character/villain to remember. Ben & Chon had opposite
personalities that were both acted out very well. I couldn't believe when I got
home and looked up Aaron Johnson, finding out that he played the main role in
Kick-Ass... blew my mind. Blake was the perfect O
and even John Travolta had some scenes.
Then there was Salma Hayek...
Every scene she was in felt like she was either trying too hard or not trying
enough. It felt like I was watching Salma Hayek and not the character of Elena.
I couldn't believe any bit of her character, which sucked because Elena is the
head of the Mexican cartel.
The movie took 40 minutes to get to the logline, which was kind of understandable, but definitely too long.
And then there was the ending, which I can't say
enough bad things about. I actually really liked the film up to that point.
Consensus
Savages
is
definitely a very dark and gory cartel flick with many great performances that
overshadow the bad. Although the ending is atrocious and the film is filled with many flaws, it still gave a certain
vibe that made me enjoy it.
6.1/10
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