Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Savages - DVD Review


Starring Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, John Travolta, Benecio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, Emile Hirsch and Demian Bichir.
Directed by Oliver Stone.


★★


Stone, finally, has gone back to make a movie absent of political polemics.  He's just here to make some pulp fiction, a flashy, violent tale about a pair of small-time, successful marijuana dealers who find themselves at war with the Mexican cartel when they refuse to join them.

Even though the title makes me think of Pocahontas, it's fitting for this story, as this cartel is brutal in their punishments and scorched-Earth in their approach.  In a twist, the big mob boss is played by Salma Hayek, and she is where she is due to her willingness to kill people quicker than Scarface.

Kitsch (Battleship) and Johnson (Kick-Ass) are okay as the two "heroes." When their mutual girlfriend is kidnapped, they must hatch a plot to get her back, and it involves a shady federal agent (Travolta) who allows the drug war to flourish as long as he gets paid.

It's the kind of movie where there's little redeeming social value, and everyone deserves to die, but it loses the courage of its convictions in the last few minutes and offers a cop-out instead.

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