So much average

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

If you're looking for a movie that... ?? Wastes time, demos bad acting, plot...umm, everything, this is it. I'm thinking Travolta owed someone a favor. Some high priced actors making a mockery of good movies. My sympathy for anyone who prides (directly) to see this.

'Savages' is a thoroughly unlikeable film with a poor plot, weak script and some seriously bad acting. From the opening scene alone I got the impression that this was going to be yet another pretentious piece of garbage, and I was right.The narration is highly annoying, as are virtually all of the characters. It's more of a comedy than a thriller and it can be especially difficult to take Blake Lively's acting seriously. There's a few decent action scenes but that's as far as the positives go as far as I'm concerned. I hated everything else about this film.

What we have here is a Mexican cartel drug thriller from director Oliver Stone. What could go wrong with that? The film is dripping with sun-bleached style, and there's plenty of violence and sex in the mix. A shame, then, that the script is so very predictable and makes huge and continuous mistakes throughout, leaving this a failure of a movie.The first problem with the film is the entire lack of likable characters. Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch are the most vapid and unlikeable leads ever; they follow in the line of the usual pothead dummy heroes (as in American ULTRA and PINEAPPLE EXPRESS) and I hated both of them from the very beginning. Blake Lively's character is rubbish, a typical air-head blonde, and the viewer is forced to sit through her extended screen time for no little reason other than to pad the story out.Which leads me into the running time: this is way too long for what should be a tense and exciting thriller. Lots of it feels repetitive or boring. There are a few action highlights, but the overall mood is artificial and long-winded. John Travolta gives the best performance in his minor role as a corrupt drugs agent, but check out Salma Hayek's cartel boss; she's surprisingly terrible. And I'm still not sure what to make of Benicio del Toro's character, and I don't think the scriptwriters knew what to do with him either...

Being a fan of Benicio del Toro and John Travolta I thought I would enjoy this movie quite a bit. Both del Toro and Travolta were both at their best here, their scenes were excellent, both gave a wonderful performance and really brought their characters to life. Benicio del Toro plays Lado, a psychotic enforcer for a Mexican drug cartel run by a truly lovely Salma Hayek who also gives a great performance as a basically unhappy woman who had lost her husband and her twin sons. Her other son and only daughter are distanced from her, her son angry that he did not inherit the business and her daughter, the only truly decent person in the whole movie is ashamed of what her mother does for a living.These actors were the high note of the film, the low being Blake Lively as Ophelia Sage or as O as she liked to call herself.Taylor Kitsch as Chon and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Ben, O's two boyfriends all living in a ménage à trois are marijuana growers living in Laguna Beach. Chon, a Navy Seal and veteran of Afghanistan brought back Marijuana seeds for his best friend Ben, a business graduate and botanist to cultivate making them both quite wealthy.Things are fine until they receive a video showing several severed heads and a chainsaw along with a demand for a meeting.That is when their idyllic lives are completely disrupted. Elena Sánchez (Salma Hayek) wants not only their business, but the two men as well. Even though they offer the business to her, she wants them to stay simply because their product is so good and she needs their expertise. She also needs a foothold in America because she is losing all her political connections in Mexico.When they refuse, Elena has O kidnapped and that is when it all hits the fan.This should have been a great movie, and it could have been except for Blake Lively's annoying performance. Her character was a moron who seemed oblivious to everything around her. Instead of picking up that they were in serious danger, (hell you would think the video would have tipped her off) she chooses to go out to dinner and go shopping. Talk about being handed the idiot ball. Also her narration was a mistake. The whole stoner, 'omigod I am so wasted' thing wore pretty thin pretty fast. I mean 'wargasims' seriously? Pity as it was a good role that could have brought something to the film, but it was wasted. I can't help but think what a good actress like a young Jodi Foster or Maggie Gyllenhaal could have done with this role.The two male leads were not quite as bad but they were completely overshadowed and outclassed by del Toro and Travolta. Although they did have a couple of good moments just not enough to really hold interest.The movie is only saved by Hayek, del Toro and Travolta. Seriously, they are the only reasons to sit through this.Magda (Sandra Echeverria)who plays Elena's estranged daughter puts in a fine performance and it is a pity she did not have a bigger role. To be honest, she is the only likable character in the whole film. O is too much of a rich spoilt stoner dimwit to like, Chon is a downright nasty piece of work and just as bad in his own way as Lado. Ben is sweet, but whiny and ineffectual.Kudos to Diego Cataño as Estéban, another secondary character way more interesting and sympathetic than the three leads.Elena also brings some sympathy and her fate at the end of the film makes you feel bad for her. But she is a bad person who does evil things. The torture scene makes you realize this, although her one saving grace is her love for her daughter. It actually makes her more than a one dimensional character.Lado is a joy though, he is a nasty, crazy violent man who seems to take delight in torture. He rapes O as punishment for going over his head to Elena and when he shows her the video of it, she spits on his face. He calmly wipes the spit on his fingers, licks it off then uses her hair to wipe his face clean. Man that is cold. What he does to Alex (Demián Bichir), (who Chon and Ben framed, by the way, these are the guys we are supposed to be cheering for.) is ugly. He is also an abusive husband, His poor wife, Dolores in a great performance by Mía Maestro just wants out but he threatens to take their two sons and daughter to Mexico so she can never see them again.Dennis Cain (John Travolta) plays the corrupt DEA agent whose wife is dying leaving him to raise two little girls on his own. You feel a little more sympathy for him when you see him sitting talking to his terminally ill wife. The scene with him and Lado is probably the high point of the film. It's nice seeing these two talented actors together.Overall, the film could have been better with a stronger female lead and a couple of male leads that you could like and cheer for. Sadly I was left not caring what happened to any of them.Also the fake ending was stupid, pointless and took away from the film. Have the ending you wanted to have, don't give us a fake ending, then a real ending. It really ruined the film for me.All up, not one of Oliver Stone's better efforts. I can't help but wonder if I would have like the film if the leads had been more likable. I am not sure but it is a good film if you like violent action movies about drug cartels.