psilocybe38

(2013-05-20 11:09:38)

Pretty weak, big let-down

Just got back form the theatre, and am thoroughly disappointed. Iwouldn't go so far as to say I had high expectations, but I thought itwould at least have some merit, being a Stone film. Plot was flimsy—the coercive amalgamation of a small boutique drugoperation in California by Mexican Drug cartel. The boutique operationconsisted of a hackneyed green-peace-hippy-type botanist character,who's best friend and business partner is a gritty, war-hardened,violent soldier (as if those two personalities would flourish togetherin friendship), both romantically involved with a flimsy empty-headedbimbo, who seems to bring nothing to the table beyond her looks. Theconnection between the three main characters seems tenuous andinsubstantial at best.The Main narrative from Lively was atrocious—absolutely did not work,mainly because her character had about as much depth as a paper plate,with virtually no substance whatsoever. Throughout the whole film, Ifound myself wondering "Why are these two dudes going to such greatlengths to retrieve such a frivolous jezebel?" When you get down to it,I had no feelings one way or the other whether her character survived,which made the entire movie seem pretty meaningless, since rescuing herwas pretty much the whole point.On the good side, Benicio Del Torro was brilliant—outstandingperformance on his part, so the movie wasn't completely devoid ofquality, but Del Torro can't carry the movie on his back. Travolta wasTravolta—can't throw him much credit or criticism in this one, but hedelivered a solid performance you'd expect from him. Hayek—meh, can'tcomplain. I thought Johnson's performance was worthy, but nothing towrite home about. None of the other actors seem worthy of noting here.The heist scene was pretty entertaining, and I though it was one of theonly scenes in the movie that carried it's weight, and it was an actionsequence, so that's pretty pathetic.I don't want to be too revelatory, but all I can say about the ending,is that it alone is what brought what brought my rating from a 4-5 starto a 2 star. The most pathetic and labored 'twist' in an ending I'veever seen (seriously, EVER)—it was egregious. My friends and I werehonestly laughing out loud in the theatre when they pulled the little'rewind' bit after the first ending (which was already preposterous).It's almost as if they shot an alternate ending for a DVD specialfeature, then said "Screw it, lets just force it in there somehow."TL;DR version: very flimsy film with a horrible ending—Del Torro is theonly redeeming quality.

aprunic

(2013-05-19 13:54:10)

wanna get sick? watch this movie

This is my first review of any movie ever, and I have only three notes:- Americans shouldn't fight the war with Arabs. Instead, they shouldstart methodically eliminating all the Mexicans from this planet,because they seem to be the lowest form of life on Earth - according toOliver Stone and the atrocities he shows in this movie- it seems to me that Oliver Stone went from movie director to a sickpsycho with a camera- thank you for making me NOT watch any of your future and past moviesOliver Stone, I hope that some Mexican cartel does to you what youshowed so vividly...the sooner the better

T Cady

(2013-05-17 13:57:02)

Poorly written and Directed. Good actors can't salvage savages.

The story of this one is fairly decent. Two marijuana growers fromSoCal, Chon (Taylor Kitsch) a former Navy seal and Ben (Aaron Johnson)a SoCal Buddhist hippie, get a deal from a Mexican drug cartel run byElena (Salma Hayek) that they agree to but decide to escape the countryand disappear. Elena has their shared girlfriend, dumb blondeCalifornia girl Ophelia (Blake Lively) who goes by the equally stupidname O. In order to get her back they must jump through some hoops andagree to terms. The guys decide that they will take things into theirown hands and savage violence ensues.The Good: The story is interesting and solid, at least from a readingit stand point, although it's a tough sale for me, living in SouthernCalifornia, that with our liberal medical marijuana laws, that anyonesmart, growing to sell at collectives would actually get involved inthis crap. Salma Hayek is a solid star in this one and is really theonly one to give a solid performance. The visuals of the beach and asomewhat decadent lifestyle are definitely a good distraction. BlakeLively is a beautiful girl. Yes, she is in this movie, but hercharacter is so dumb that she really loses her attractiveness, and Idon't mean in a bubbly blonde way.The Bad: The writing and directing is horrible, truly bad. ,I at firstjust thought the acting was horrible, but given the complete cast, Isoon realized that as not good as the acting was, the only blame shouldfall on Oliver Stone himself. First, this movie didn't seem to everfind any kind of coherent style. At times it looks and sounds like itis trying to copy a sort of Quinten Tarantino like violent and crudemovie, with some humor but that fell completely flat. At other times itpromised to become a more action packed thriller but that too was justa tease.Also having Blake Lively narrate this movie was an epic fail. Combinedwith the bad writing it comes off as a pretty, stupid girl telling afourth grade story with the intelligence of a potato, and thevocabulary to match. Her voice is just not voice-over worthy. Just takeone line from this movie, "I had orgasms, he had wargasms." yeah, wasabout the depth of thought involved in this movie.I must also interject that Mr.Stone has probably never met a Navy Sealin his life. OK, maybe Jessie Ventura. His character that is suppose tobe an ex-Seal comes off as a adolescent teenage thug, who couldn't findhis way out of a paper bag.In the end I think Oliver Stone has been to wrapped up in his lovefestswith Cuban and South American Dictators, and maybe smoking too muchmarijuana to actually put out a decent, smart movie. Watching this onekind of made me feel sad for Mr.Stone, and miss the days when he putout good movies like "Natural Born Killers." (1994) I truly was hopingfor a great movie when I saw the previews for this one but I wasdefinitely disappointed. It kind of reminded me of that movie "Redline"(2007), remember that one? Yeah. Nobody else does either.So for really bad writing, directing, not having any kind of coherentstyle, and not quite fulfilling its action and "savagery" that itpromised, the best I can give this one is a 5 out of 10, and that maytruly be kind and is out of respect to Salma Hayek who shouldered thismovie pretty much on her own, although Del Toro had a few tiny moments.Like my review? Hate em? Comments, questions, or want a DVD reviewedbefore you waste your time? E-mail me at : subliminal.lithium@gmail.com

emmajanegray1985

(2013-05-17 06:15:11)

All star cast from stone didn't disappoint

Aside from the questionable love triangle relationship this film didentertain. An all star cast from Oliver Stone who pulled in some heavyweights to play main characters; Travolta, Heyek, Del Toro. The storyline follows the usual route of a film about drugs, a cartel and whathappens when something goes wrong.It reminded me slightly of the beachin the bohemian sense that it is filmed with the beautiful locationsand equally beautiful cast members.My only criticism if I had to findone is Blake lively is entirely wooden and seems only able to playherself, but I guess she wasn't cast for her acting skills. Nice twistat the end, good for an easy Sunday watch.

StakkaDakka

(2013-05-16 21:28:17)

A fine example of the garbage that is (most of) contemporary film

OK so we have a movie that begins with the kingpins of a big weeddealing operation in California. Guess what? These kingpins are threesuper-hot white people in their mid-late twenties. That right there, inthe first minute of the movie was nearly enough to turn it off. We thenare told that one of these characters happens to be a passionateoverseas charity worker, in addition to his ivy league education. Inthe name of God, why are we expected to believe that there is any realmof reality where these people could possibly exist? Don't get mestarted on the Mexican cartel boss, who is really just somebody's mum.Are you kidding me? Of course the three main characters can't act, whocares about that though, they are pretty to look at. Blake Lively ifyou are in two sex scenes in the first 5 minutes of the movie you haveto ask yourself if you are just a prostitute. Seriously, you areselling the exact same thing. Didn't anyone involved see the movieTRAFFIC? It is a storyline along the same basic lines, but in thatmovie at no stage are you watching and thinking 'this is a load of BS'.There is nothing about that movie that you feel isn't close to arepresentation of reality. Why do we have to be subjected to theseabsolutely absurd plot lines and characters that honestly seem to be tobe dreamed up by a 12-year old boy. It is insulting. Jesus Christ, liftyour game, Hollywood.

Mini Rouge

(2013-05-16 03:52:29)

It was simply unpleasant.

I cannot believe a movie such as this one made enough money at the boxoffice to break even, let alone profit. Parts of this movie wereextremely uncomfortable to watch and if you would think of watchingwith your family, do not! It includes quite a bit of nudity and sexualscenes in which very little in covered. It is definitely not the kindof movie you want to watch is you want something truly interesting withgood action. It may be good for someone who wants a action movie mixedwith porn. I think it included much too much of sexual scenes and itdistracted from the plot, not that the plot itself was too great. Theplot was weak, the actors played their roles with no real feeling, andmany scenes had quite a few uncomfortable moments. Not the movie forfamily night, that's for sure.

gradyharp

(2013-05-15 13:00:58)

'Just because I'm telling you this story....doesn't mean I'm alive at the end of it.'

We are all savages, no matter how we attempt to disguise it. OliverStone has brought some brilliant films to the screen - Platoon, WallStreet, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Born on the Fourth of July,Natural Born Killers, Nixon, W., Heaven and Earth, World Trade Center,etc - and it is with the expectation that his current film will live upto those standards that most viewers commit to the 147 minutes ofSAVAGES. The film is long on gore and drugs, delivers some rathercaricatures of ideas (Benicio Del Toro, Selma Hayak, John Travolta) andwaste a lot of time on inconsequential things. But the story itself hassome merit, though it has been done many times before: the drug marketcan turn people into savages.Entrepreneurs Ben (Aaron Johnson), a peaceful and charitable marijuanaproducer, and friend Chon (Taylor Kitsch), a macho, hunky, rough formerNavy SEAL, run a lucrative, homegrown industry - raising some of thebest weed ever developed. They also share a one-of-a-kind love withOphelia (Blake Lively) in a three-way romance. Life is an idyllic triadin their Southern California town of Laguna Beach ... until the MexicanBaja Cartel decides to move in and demands that the trio partners withthem. When the merciless head of the BC, Elena (Salma Hayek) and herenforcer, Lado (Benicio Del Toro), underestimate the unbreakable bondof the three friends, Ben and Chon - with the reluctant assistance of adirty DEA agent (John Travolta) in cahoots with El Azul (JoaquГѓВ­n Cosio)- wage a seemingly unwinnable war against the cartel. And so begins aseries of increasingly vicious ploys and maneuvers in a high stakes,savage battle of wills involving the kidnapping of Ophelia as well asthe kidnapping of Elena's daughter. Throw in cameos by Emile Hirsch,DemiГѓВЎn Bichir, and what seems to be a cast of thousands, top it off bya cutesy ending suggested by the opening lines of the film, and try toget past the boring voice over storytelling by Blake lively and settlein to the gore of beheadings, and other gruesome events and you haveOliver Stone's latest. The film as its moments but it goes on far toolong and doesn't have the class of the original novel by Don Winslow(who surprisingly shows up as a screenwriter!). For those who love goreand some fine actors doing a turn for the money, join in. Grady Harp

simon-prometheus

(2013-05-15 03:10:35)

How Savage Would You Become?

To defeat a savage, how savage would you become? Would you become thebogeymen to punish those who haunt your dreams? In narcotics thrillerSavages, director Oliver Stone presents and then answers thosequestions in vivid, graphic detail while exploring a facet of love thatis far from fairy tale. The setup to Savages adds a spark to this rather familiar material withour protagonists committing to the type of love triangle you'll neversee in a romantic comedy. Having all met years earlier on the shores ofLaguna Beach, Cal., what began as a pot-dealing partnership betweenpacifist botanist Ben (Aaron Johnson), damaged war vet Chon (TaylorKitsch) and their employee Ophelia "O" (Blake Lively) became afriendship and eventually something more. Sharing their multi-million-dollar ocean-front home, these three love one another and exist more askindred spirits than players in some sort of lustful, dysfunctionaltryst. We believe in this arrangement, so when O is abducted by the cartelafter a failed business proposal, we are invested in their cause. Theonly weak link in this violent parable is the casting of O herself, asBlake Lively comes off more adorable than as some sort of goddess.Jennifer Lawrence was originally cast as O, and while she's no bubblingsexpot herself, she would have been a boundlessly superior choice tothe often clunky presence of Lively. The film is also stricken by aninsufferable and unnecessary voice-over by our lead vixen that detractsfrom the narrative and hints from the get-go that Stone has somethingup his sleeve. But overall, the acting is extremely strong with more charactersreceiving some depth than you would usually get in a narco-thriller.Taylor Kitsch rinses some of the stink of John Carter and Battleshipfrom his soiled reputation and Aaron Johnson is far from the awkwardteen we saw in Kick-Ass. John Travolta makes a limited but memorableappearance as a corrupt DEA agent and his scenes with Chon and Ben arethe movie's bursts of comedic relief. The "good guys" split screen timesurprisingly equally with the other side of the conflict featuring thecartel head Elena (Salma Hayek) and her chief enforcer Lado (BenicioDel Toro). It is without question Del Toro who absconds with the entire affair asthe loathsome Lado, who is so sinister and revolting every time heappears on screen you truly fear he is about to slaughter somebody. Heis in fact so vile and so disturbingly charismatic that you even dreadwhat he may do to the other antagonists. He is involved in nearly everyinstance of the film's grisly violence and his participation in aparticularly graphic whipping scene only cements his on-screenreputation. With his dishevelled moustache and hallowed eyes, he makesLado infinitely memorable and provides what is easily one of the verybest performances of his career. This is Stone's most accomplished work since 2006's World Trade Center,and while that effort was more a showcase for some surprisingly potentacting by Nicolas Cage and Maria Bello, Savages is very much anexhibition of Stone's sure-handed action direction and distinct style –love it or hate it. Despite being sold more as an action thriller, thegunplay is sparser than I would have thought and is far more acharacter study with perforations of violence. This is at times adetriment, especially considering Savages runs about 20 minutes toolong. Stone might have considered approaching the material a tad morelike a stripped-down revenge tale, even though we see far too manyfilms of that variety each year. Stone is at his most interesting when he brings up issues of moralityand the three-way relationship between O, Chon and Ben. The bestexample of this comes when our captured belle sits down to dinner withour sultry Elena at which she points out that Chon and Ben must loveeach other more than her or else they would never be able to share.Many elements of Savages could easily become its own film: a deeperexploration of the love triangle, a look at the assent and tragedies ofthe Elena character and even more so the rise of Lado, whose arc hereresolves nothing like you would expect. Speaking of resolutions, be prepared for a love-it-or-hate-it climaxthat interestingly plays with conventions of the genre while existingas a cheat to the audience in turn. I found the finale to be more of amoot series of events in relation to the mostly strong (if meandering)film that preceded it, but I do realize if Stone had just gone for theagainst-type conclusion some viewers would be just as put off, if forslightly different reasons. Judge it for yourself. All those who populate Stone's world have their savage qualities, be itthrough a forced hand or due to gleaning some twisted pleasure.Lively's ethereal O has a different meaning for the word, one far morefitting for her "wrong" love story: being savage merely representsliving an existence in the untamed – a reversal back to the feral andunpolished. If this is Stone in a savage state of any kind, then Isuggest he remain in it, as for whatever it's worth, this is his returnto form.

dario_malic

(2013-05-14 08:02:04)

Say you, say me, say him

Many speak of "Savages" as Oliver Stone's return to form. It certainlylooks that way at first glance. Gritty, violent story about Chon andBen, two drug dealers trying to rescue their mutual girlfriend O fromthe hands of the Mexican mafia powered with such stars as JohnTravolta, Benicio Del Toro and Salma Hayek as well as youngsters BlakeLively, Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in leading roles. Butthen I became sceptical. Oliver Stone hasn't made a noteworthy movie(documentaries aside) for more than fifteen years and the other writersdon't have appealing resumes (one of them, Don Winslow, is also theauthor of the book which the movie is based on, but writing a good bookdoesn't mean you can write a good screenplay). Still, I couldn't helphoping this one would be a hit so I went to watch it.And what a hit it was. A succession of hits, actually. It first hit mewith useless and badly done narration by O, the girl who getskidnapped. Then it hit me again with really bad characterization. Allthe characters are just a pack of clichГѓВ©s, without an ounce ofpersonality in them, doing whatever is necessary for the story toprogress. Another hit. Acting. I must admit the actors weren't givenmuch to work with but some of the blame lies on them too. Blake Livelyis awful as a spoiled addict O and Taylor Kitsch isn't much better asPTSD-suffering Chon. even the pros like Travolta and Del Toro seem likethey don't know what they are doing. Travolta plays Dennis, a DEA agentso corrupt and double-crossing, I don't know how he manages to rememberwhich side is he on at any given moment, and Del Toro plays aprofessional killer who likes to torture people and rape girls. Bearingthat in mind, their acting is straightforward comedic. And here iswhere the final hit comes in. Screenplay. It's so poorly written thatyou wonder how did they even get it filmed. You get the feeling thatthe tone of the movie is supposed to be serious but then, out of theblue, happens something undeniably parodic. It is maybe intentionallyso, but it makes the movie very uneven and just doesn't work. Not tomention completely unnecessary and incomprehensible decisions likerevealing Elena has a daughter in the beginning of the movie andcrossing her with O while shopping in some mall. What purpose does thathave? It just lets us conclude what will happen later in the movie thusremoving any suspense. Or showing us Elena getting close with O to makenothing of it and simply discard it a few minutes later. There's justno sense in most of the things in this movie.What's even worse, the movie doesn't seem to have an answer to the mostimportant question. What is the point of it? Why do we have to sit andwatch it for over two hours? What does it tell us? It seems there is nopoint. The most corrupted guys end up as winners while our mГѓВ©nage ГѓВ trois moves to some exotic place and, in O's words, regress to livingsome kind of primal, savage life (although savages didn't have bathingsuits from what I recall). So okay, they're all savages. Or we're allsavages? Is that what the movie is trying to tell us? Does it have apoint after all? Maybe. The problem is that it just doesn't make youcare.More reviews at http://onlineimpressions.blogspot.com/

leonlouisricci

(2013-05-13 21:25:36)

Highly Stylized Post Modern Palette

There is an unwritten rule floating around Moviedom, for anything but aChic Flick never use a female for voice over narration. It's hard toquantify but it just does not work. Anyway, aside from that irritant,this is the usual visually stunning, take it or leave it style from oneof our maverick Directors. He is loved and hated in tandem. OliverStone is a daring filmmaker that pushes boundaries and barrages thesenses so, like it or not, it makes you pay attention.This can work to advantage, and not. Because if you pay too muchattention to his playful, violent vision it can be distracting tryingto get meaning out of meaninglessness. This is a romp. Nothing morethan a highly stylized post-modern palette of ultra-violence, sex,drugs, and hipster music.This was made before the 2012 election and that makes the DEA agent'sremark, "it's only a matter of time before its legal, so take the moneyand run", stand out and although not exactly a profound statement, itis like the rest of this, nothing more than "attractive" action and"fun" escapism for those in the groove.

jaxbubba

(2013-05-11 18:40:19)

We seen this all before, and done so much better!!!

"Savages" is Oliver Stones' latest and greatest drug cartel epic. Thefilm has an all-star cast featuring the likes of Benicio Del Toro(Lado), Blake Lively (O), Taylor Kitsch (Chon), Aaron Johnson (Ben),and John Travolta (Dennis). The issue at hand is this film has everydrug cartel cliché from every other drug cartel movie rehashed in thisfilm, and it's not done well.Chon and Ben are best buds, and during a brainstorming session on thebeach one afternoon, they decide to start a small (but profitable)marijuana distribution franchise. Ben majored in biochemistry as ableto produce a higher quality product, while Chon (being in the militaryat the time) was able to smuggle Afghanistan seeds into the US. In lessthan three years, they had a superior product on the market, and theattention of the larger cartels on the street. The two friends haveonly one love in their life (in which they share), and that is O (BlakeLively). When the drug cartel makes them an offer that they cannotrefuse (but they do anyway), O is kidnapped to ensure that the guys doas they are told.There are lots of issues with this film. The first being that the drugcartel is being run by Elena (Salma Hayek). She tries to be a hard ass;however, she comes across as weak and not very intimidating enough formy needs (though she tries really, really hard). Benicio Del Toro triesto play the enforcer, and Elena's muscle; however, I believed that hewould have made a much better drug cartel kingpin. Our two heroes, Chonand Ben seem to be a couple of lovesick teenage, surfer dudes whoreally need to grow a pair!!! And I really do not know of any two guyswho would really consent to his best friend banging his girlfriend,just a little to weird for me to comprehend.The ending was really the pinnacle of badness… an ending shown, and yougo "OMG, really??? After two hours of watching this film, this is howthe film will end?" Then the narrator comes in with an alternateending…. And I was like, no…. of the two choices, let's go with thefirst one…. LOL!!!! Again, Oliver Stone brings nothing new or originalto this film; and it's basically two hours of every drug movie clichéin the book. You have seen this movie before, numerous times, and doneway better. I cannot recommend this film, unless you are reallyinterested in seeing Blake Lively getting banged by two different guys,and that occurs within the first 15 minutes of the film. So wait forthis one to show on STARZ, HBO, etc… and save your money!!! SEE MORE OFMY REVIEWS ON FB @ "THE FARIS REEL"

jam9292

(2013-05-11 07:22:06)

did expect much and i was right

Well so i went to the cinemas with a mate hoping to see Argo however itwasn't on so we decided to see this. Even though i went into the movienot expecting much, i was willing to give it a chance.However, the American Beauty style narration just killed it for me andthe movie seemed to me as being a poor effort at a Guy Ritchie film(snatch and Lock stock). i was hoping to see an original story but thisjust proved too much to ask.One positive of this film was Aaron Taylor Johnson's effort. i lovedhim in kick-Ass and he was great in this, along with Travolta and DelToro. But unfortunately there wasn't much to back them up.Overall the movie was mediocre but what can you expect when youdiscover the main character is a former Navy SEAL turned greatest potdealer in the world.

phd_travel

(2013-05-10 08:27:07)

Good story and interesting characters

The story is good, unpredictable and not far fetched. The Baja drugcartel make two small time drug producers an offer they can't refuseand kidnap their girlfriend. Liked the black humor that runs throughthe story.There are likable characters on both sides of the battle. All theactors are well used. Blake Lively is finally in a big screen role thatsuits her well. Her loose living California girl and narrator is bothamusing and lovely to watch. John Travolta's slimy crooked cop is justright. Salma the drug lord is quite darkly amusing. Benicio's face doesall the work. The two good friends who share everything are well playedby Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson who are both kind of uglied up forthe roles.The violence is very graphic but it's contained to certain scenes andyou know when it's coming and can choose to close your eyes. Both thesex scenes and the violence make this for mature audiences.Overall a good plot driven kind of feel good thriller with a stand outcast.

dropsOfMilkyWay

(2013-05-09 22:35:07)

A waste of time

The cinematography was pretty good, as expected from the director whomade Natural Born Killers and Platoon but how did they end up castingthese three leads who are attractive but doesn't know how to act! Idiscovered from this film that Blake Lively is such a terrible actress-she doesn't even know how to cry! her narration is terrible and so isthe material she delivered. Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch'sperformances were equally sleazy. There were explosions and gore butthe script, the narration and the plot wasted production and talentssuch as Benicio del Toro and Salma Hayek. The running time is also asannoying as the lead characters- it was too long! They should've trimit down, remove all the unnecessary scenes so the viewers didn't needto suffer that long.

Simplistic Reviews

(2013-05-09 09:05:17)

A Savage cop out

There are times when a film comes around that you hear about, wait tosee it, finally see it, are extremely pleased with the results, butcome the end of the movie you're thinking to yourself, "What justhappened?" That's the film "Savages," where come the end of the film,or what you think is the end of the film, you scream out, "C'MON!"When you think about Oliver Stone you have to think about the amount ofdirectors that he's influenced; I would bet one American dollar thatthere isn't a director, living or dead, that would say they weren'tinfluenced by either the writing or directing talents of Stone. He usesspiritual imagery in an effective way, loves to show sex and violence,but there is still a tongue-in-cheek element when he goes to theextreme, especially in his post-"Platoon" work. Lately he's had hisups-and-downs, trying to cash in on old ideas ("Wall Street"), but when"Savages" was announced I was a little excited. It looked and felt likeold-school Stone, circa "Natural Born Killers." Gritty, bloody, sexy,and violent. Even the cast was young and hip. So why was "Savages" alet down? Let's take a walk."Savages" stars Blake Lively as O, or Ophelia, who is "shared" by twoindependent pot growers/sellers, played by Aaron Johnson and "Mr.Chicken Burrito" himself, Taylor Kitsch. Everything is going swimminglyfor the three until they turn down a request from Baja Cartel Mistress,Elena. Things go from bad to worse for the three as they findthemselves at war with the Cartel. The violence is brutal at times, butwhat would you expect from a vicious Mexican Cartel. Just read orlisten to the news and I'm sure you'll read, or hear, much worse.Lively is the backbone of this film, and rightfully so. I think shekind of gets a raw deal in Hollywood due to her "Gossip Girl" ties, butshe holds her own in "Savages" and gives a pitch-perfect performance ofa girl who is both the "damsel in distress" and the "strong heroine."If you want to see Lively in another good performance check out "TheTown." For someone who you would take a quick glance at and write heroff as just eye-candy, she can act, and takes chances. We need moreBlake Livelys and less Brooklyn Deckers and whoever that girl is whocan't close her mouth in "Transformers 3."The plot twists and turns and keeps you on your toes throughout. Youreally never know who is the next person to get killed or get caught inthe crossfire, and the stakes are pretty high throughout the film. Thatis until the "end." If Stone had more balls he would have ended thefilm ten minutes earlier. The "end" is what you would have expected thewhole film, but I guess that's the whole point. You expect somethingShakespearean, but you get a curveball that really makes you say, onceagain, "C'MON!" Like "Hamlet" you expect a tragedy, and you get close,but I of course won't spoil the fun, because all in all "Savages" isactually the best Oliver Stone film since probably "Killers" or I mighteven go as new as "Any Given Sunday."The one thing you'll take away from "Savages" is that Stone still hasit. He can still make a film just as visceral as he did in his youngerdays. After years of dealing with George W Bush, September 11th, andgoing back to "Wall Street" there was a question as to whether Stonewanted to deal with darker subject matter. We all know that he's anintellectual, and a thinking man's filmmaker, but it was great to seehim go back to his hungrier and darker ways with "Savages."Check out other reviews at simplisticreviews.blogspot.com

rubitony2002

(2013-05-08 23:24:40)

Do not let the bad ratings keep you from seeing this brilliant masterpiece!

I'm going to make this review short and sweet. I had reservations aboutrenting this movie because of the many poor reviews. I rented it anyway. Let me tell you that this is the best movie I've seen this yearwhich is near the end. The worst thing about this movie is the criticswhich gave this movie such terrible reviews. This movie has it all.Great directing, writing, cinematography, great actors and muchsuspense. I was nervous all throughout the movie. I felt as if I was infront of the savages from the drug cartel. It's not your typical movieyou're used to seeing from Oliver Stone. This movie was part OliverStone, Martin Scorsese, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. OliverStone has stepped out of his comfort zone and took a risk at somethingout of the ordinary. I loved the movie. All of it. If you are a normalperson and like adult content movies that include, hot beautifultalented actors, drugs, sex, violence and gore, you will love it too.If you love it like I did, please write a review. It's easy to registerand get a free account with IMDb. I would like to see the average starsbetween 8 and 9. What some of the critics don't seem to understand isthat, "IT'S ONLY A MOVIE! made to try and please everyone. Respect thedirector. He has earned it.

scottmccollum

(2013-05-07 13:20:35)

Medellin

I can just see Oliver Stone pumping his fists like Billy at the end ofthe movie....Other then that....I didn't mind following the story and all the dialog.. but doesn't seem like anyone in the theater was enthused at the end.I wasn't but didn't hate it. Tried to be like True Romance, but lacked the humor and the bizarreaction scenes.Benicio Toro - believable and awesome.Acting was pretty good overall, just some tough scenes to pull offbecause the story didn't seem to pull anyone in...movie tried to be alittle too intense and laid back at the same time.

Janis Livens

(2013-05-07 01:12:29)

Painfully Boring and Obnoxious...

Savages sucks... It's the worst Oliver Stone film by a mile. I didn'teven waste my time on watching it fully. Got 40 minutes in and realizedthat I'm for a suck so I fast forwarded it till the end. I can't standcampy, pretentious schlock that pretends to be a smart 90's crime film.There was nothing remotely good about Savages. The acting is terrible,the script is laughable and direction is poor. It's bloody and violentbut lacks any substance or cleverness to it. Blake Lively's narrationis nauseatingly bad and her line deliveries were terrible. Plus shedoesn't do any nudity in a role that demands it...I don't like Oliver Stone that much , but here he just dropped theball. How can cram so much stupid and terrible dialog and other crap.And don't get me started on the *beeping* ending. Who does fake-outendings these days? Really? An Oscar winning director and screenwritergoes for the most stupid way to end a film...Please, don't watch Savages. It's a very bad throwback to the 90'scrime thrillers. It's very stupid, campy and boring. Go check out thegood Oliver Stone films like The Doors, Platoon and so on.

themusgrat

(2013-05-06 08:02:22)

Savages

Reviewing this is hard, because it's all to easy to look at this andsay it's typical Hollywood trash. While it may be, there were redeemingfeatures. But first, the bad. The movie starts out in one of the moreclichГѓВ© ways possible, and when you see the style of cinematography,you'll understand. That's not necessarily bad, but showing people beingdecapitated for 10 seconds then having a lovely guitar song playingaccompanied by a great view of the beach, well, suffice to say that theshock and awe factor was not there. Then there's the sex, and I won'tgive it away, but it's there just because it's sex.Then there are tons of other things that don't really help the plot atall, but there were also good things. Travolta, of course, reallybrings some needed substance to the film. He's the knowledgeableaccomplice type, he's the sneaky cheeky turncoat, he's the comicrelief, all in 1. Without him, the film does not work. Well, him andDel Toro. They're both forced into type-cast roles, but they make themost out of it. In fact there are a handful of other great unknownactors here, but as I said, you'd never know it, because the plot isentirely clichГѓВ© and typical.I guess the one twist comes at the end, but for most people it will bemore of a dissatisfying twist. I didn't mind it though, so I'd say ifyou think of yourself as a seasoned movie vet who's going to criticallyanalyze this, don't see it. If you're up for some mild entertainment,sure, why not. There are cool parts, there are funny parts, andTravolta/del Toro are awesome.

ThreeGuysOneMovie

(2013-05-05 23:11:39)

will make you want to move to Laguna Beach

Adam – While I enjoyed the premise of the film, its execution left alot to be desired. The film wanders around Laguna Beach, Dana Point andSan Clemente, so it's easy on the eyes, but not much is actually goingon. In a strange casting decision, the three main characters in thisdrug, drama Lively, Kitsch, and Johnson, end up looking like highschool students in drama club, when paired up against our talentedvillains Del Toro, Travolta, and Hayek.Scotty - This film was the definition of okay, decent acting, decentstory, decent everything but nothing that was above that. I also had areal hard time with the ending and to not spoil it I will keep it atthat.Griff – This is a tough one for me. I have to admit that my opinion isa little bit biased since I live in Laguna Beach where the movie takesplace. So it's hard for me to not have a soft spot for this movie butit is a bit of a mess. I hate narration in a movie and to me it reeksof lazy film making. I thought it was unnecessary and didn't even fitwith the actual character. Although it had a few memorable scenes itreally lacked some visceral punch. It's got all the pieces for a greatmovie, big stars, big time director, beautiful cinematography, but itnever comes together to make for a memorable film.head on over to 3guys1movie.com to read our full review