Oliver Stone Has Lost His Edge

The much-hyped thriller/action flick Savages is a big disappointment. It has the potential to be great, but Oliver Stone has lost that opportunity! I'm usually a big fan of movies with blood and violence (because of my fondness for Chinese action epics while growing up in Hong Kong), but even I have to give a thumbs-down to this film. And let me begin by saying that if you don't have a stomach for violence, this movie is not for you.

I read about the movie's screenplay being adapted from a famous novel by Don Winslow. The plot itself is weak and not convincing, and the screenplay is not much better. Two men who are the best of friends sharing a woman and living harmoniously together? Not at all possible - not even for Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. I also find the narrator's role irritating. Unless there is a purpose to serve, like Che in the musical Evita, narrators are just not necessary in most movies. In this case, the last thing I wanted to hear is the continued narration in first person by the dumb blonde character O played by Blake Lively!

I understand that this is a movie about the Mexican drug cartel, but much of the violence is not necessary. Oliver Stone is trying to repeat his Natual Born Killers style in his latest work, but it's simply not working. Unlike Quentin Tarantino who usually portrays violence in a comical fashion (as in Inglourious Bastards and Pulp Fiction), there's nothing funny about Savages. And the kind of utopia fantasized by the protagonists almost borders ridiculousness (this word exists)!

The only saving grace in this movie is the acting by Benicio Del Toro and Salma Hayek - particularly the former who plays the head assistant of the Mexican cartel's godmother Elena. His sliminess and vulgarities are just a delight to watch every time when Toro appears on the big screen. Other than that, there's nothing to write home about the acting of the two young male protagonists Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson. This movie also doesn't demonstrate the best acting skills of Blake Lively and John Travolta who have both done better in other flicks.

I'm, of course, treating this as another lesson in Spanish - usually bad guys don't say a lot in movies and their Spanish is, therefore, very easy to follow for beginners like me!