- Film Review
- Reviewed By Stella Papamichael
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3 out of 5
Oliver Stone is back in the pulp noir territory of U Turn and Natural Born Killers with this brassy and very bloody adaption of Don Winslow's novel. There's a danger of sensory overload as he follows California dope dealers Ben and Chon (Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch), whose hedonistic lifestyle includes sharing a girlfriend, O (Blake Lively). Lively has little more to do than play the victim after being snatched by a Mexican crime lord who has plans for expansion into the US. The surprise is that the gangster is played by Salma Hayek, flitting between maternal angst and maniacal urges. An increasingly convoluted plot also involves John Travolta's corrupt federal agent and Benicio Del Toro as Hayek's brutal henchman. In essence, Savages is a love story, but the three-way dynamic just seems frivolous and the finale is horribly overblown, especially as O is too slight a character to warrant so much gunplay. The thrills here may be many, but they are also cheap.
Plot Summary
Two friends make a living dealing marijuana, but their small enterprise attracts the attention of a Mexican drug cartel. The gangsters kidnap their shared girlfriend and force them to sell their business, so the small-timers turn to a corrupt DEA agent for help in fighting back. Oliver Stone's crime drama, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Salma Hayek and Benicio Del Toro.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Chon
- Taylor Kitsch
- O
- Blake Lively
- Ben
- Aaron Johnson
- Dennis
- John Travolta
- Lado
- Benicio Del Toro
- Elena
- Salma Hayek
- Spin
- Emile Hirsch
- Alex
- Demian Bichir
- Chad
- Shea Whigham
- Badass biker
- Gary Stretch
- Dolores / Lado's wife
- Mia Maestro
Crew
- Director
- Oliver Stone
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