Savages (2012) Review

"Just because I'm telling you this story, doesn't mean I'm alive at the end."
-O



California marijuana dealers, Ben (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch), reject a deal from the Baja Cartel to take over their business and plan to flee the country.  Before they can, the cartel kidnaps their girlfriend, O (Blake Lively), to get the guys to cooperate.  To get her back and live to tell the tale, Ben and Chon will have to bring out the darkest parts of themselves.


What Works:

Taylor Kitsch is hands down the best part of this movie.  His character is a troubled Iraq War veteran. He's extremely violent, but tactical and has no problems doing what he has to do to get O back.  I love his take-no-prisoners attitude and how competent he is.

There aren't as many action sequences in this movie has you might think.  There are only two, but are both well done.  We see Chon and his team launch a three pronged attack on a cartel convoy, which is really exciting.  The 3rd act standoff is also well done because you are never sure who is going to make it.

The gore is also very solid.  Early in the film, Chot gets a warning from the cartel and the video shows seven decapitates corpses.  Later, we get to watch a guy set on fire and burned to death.  These scenes are hardcore, but I appreciate that director Oliver Stone didn't hold back.


What Sucks:

This is a movie of wasted potential.  The story is good and the characters are interesting, but it never does enough with them.  Take Ben, Chon, and O for example: O is dating both guys and they both know it and are fine with it.  That's an interesting relationship that you don't see in movies very often.  I wish the movie had explored their dynamic more.

The film is also too long.  It takes awhile for O's kidnapping to actually happen.  The setup is too long and not interesting enough.  It's wild that the setup is so long, but they don't take the time to really develop the relationship of the three leads more.

There are also two tropes in this film that I hate.  The first is the use of voiceover to narrate the story. We get this movie from O's perspective and I think it's lazy.  There was definitely a way to make this movie without voiceover and if you can, you should.

We also get a fake-out ending.  We got through the 3rd act action scene all for it to be reveled that this was in O's imagination.  Then we get the real ending.  I hate when dramatic movies do this.  It always feels cheap.  


Verdict:

Savages has a solid performance from Taylor Kitsch, good action sequences, and some brutal violence, but the film is too long at parts and not long enough at others.  Plus it has two film tropes that I hate.  It's not a bad movie, but it's not good either.

 5/10: Meh 

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