Savages movie review

Savages-2012

Length: 2 hr. 9 min.
Genre: Thriller/Suspense

Cast:
Blake Lively
Benicio Del Toro
Taylor Kitsch
Aaron Johnson
Salma Hayek
John Travolta
Emile Hirche

Grade: A-

Would I buy: Yes

Review:

Savages is about two guys Ben and John (Johnson and Kitsch) who live in Laguna Beach with their shared girlfriend O (Lively) where they are known internationally for growing the best cannabis in the world. Everything appears as though they are on top of the world until some mexican cartel partners want to combine with Ben and John's business and receive a percentage of the profits earned, while learning how to grow what Ben and John are so well known for. After "non personally" denying the offer made by the cartel and getting caught in a web of lies the Cartel led by a mean Elena (Hayek) takes O as a hostage until Ben and John are willing to comply. Ben and John will stop at nothing to get their girlfriend back, which leads to a story of violence, deceit, and ultimately betrayal.

After being a fan of many of Oliver Stone's film and watching what he has put out lately, I was ready to see him get back to what he does best, violence. In this film that is exactly what he came to do. The acting in this film was phenomenal on almost all accounts; the only performance I was on the fence with was Taylor Kitsch who plays John, an ex military officer. I understand that his purpose was to be try and unemotional but there were times were I thought he could have done so much more, it wasn't bad, just not great. The standout performance in this movie to me was Benicio Del Toro; this man can act! He really stole the scene in every one he was in, and played a very menacing character. John Travolta also did great as the DEA kind of playing for both sides. Every character in this movie was forced to have many different dimensions due to the situation at hand which was always a pleasure to watch. Everyone had a clear objective and to me, they completed what they set out to do.

The plot to me was actually very interesting and I thought that the cinematography was a nice touch as well. The action scenes were done very well and it definitely pulled you in whenever stuff started hitting the fan. The story compelled you to root for the two main guys on their pursuit to O because the antagonists were just too cruel not to hate. Every scene made you raise more questions about what was going on while the script made it easy to follow for the most part. The scene that really stuck out to me was the scene between Del Toro and Travolta, I don't know why I just felt that it really pulled me in to open up to who's who.

As far as the ending it is something that you have definitely seen before but I thought it was done well. It is a kind of cheap way to do it, but at the same time you will probably like it, if you liked the characters in the movie that is. Overall I thought the movie was great, I will definitely buy it, this is a movie I recommend to everyone over the age of like 17.