Savages – Review

How do you know when it’s time to quit?  How can you accurately gage whether your best is truly behind you and decide to move on to other exploits?  It can be a very difficult task to do this kind of self-examination.  Savages is director Oliver Stone’s latest film and it proves to be a fitting example of when these types of questions need to be asked.

During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s Oliver Stone seemed unstoppable.  With hits including Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, and Nixon, Stone has deservingly built quite the reputation.  However, all good things must come to an end and Savages will most likely not be joining the above list of accomplishments.

The film stars Taylor Kitsch as an ex-Navy Seal who brought some marijuana seeds back from Afghanistan and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the green-loving yet business-minded Berkeley graduate.  Their relationship consists of being best buds, business partners in their marijuana business, and each of them being comfortable that they are both having fun with Blake Lively (who plays the prototypical spoiled bimbo).  John Travolta, Benicio del Toro, and Salma Hayek all have major roles as well.

The gist of the story goes something like this:  The unlikely duo’s marijuana business is doing well enough that it attracts the attention of a major drug cartel from south of the border.  When the pair refuses the cartel’s buyout terms, things go sour and Lively is kidnapped and taken hostage.  Conflict ensues.

The biggest problem with the film is that all of the major players are portrayed as stereotypical simpletons.  Each character seems like the prototypical answer you would receive upon asking a sixth grader to describe each of the roles.  “Hey Johnny, if I were to make a character who went to Berkeley, what would he be like?”  This results in dull and lifeless characters because no one has any quirks or personality beyond what fits their most simplistic imagining.  Beyond that, the plot is very obvious and straightforward and while there are a handful of exciting scenes, the film overall fails to impress.