The Oliver Stone of “Natural Born Killers” and “U-Turn” is back with “Savages,” a brutal R-rated movie that involves more sex, drugs, violence and profanity than I recall seeing in a while. If that’s not your cup of tea, then you can skip the rest of this review. If you have no aversion to watching movies containing “mature” subject matter, then you might want to continue reading, as those things do not necessarily add up to a good movie, no matter how much of them you throw at the screen.
There was a time when going to see a Stone movie was an event. While he’s infamous for either ignoring history or revising it to suit his dramatic intent, movies like “Platoon,” “The Doors” and “JFK” were visually exciting and good drama. Then Stone took a detour down a kinder, gentler road when he made “World Trade Tower,” “W” and the sequel to one of his classics, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” Truth be told, the guy’s movies had gotten safe and boring.
No matter what you think about “Savages,” it’s anything but boring.
Let me take you through the set up. Based on a novel by Don Winslow, “Savages” begins with O telling us she might not be alive, even though she’s the narrator of the story. She then introduces us to Ben and Chon, her roommates and lovers, both by mutual agreement. I’m skeptical about their arrangement. As someone wisely observes at one point, “There’s no way those guys would share you if they didn’t love each other more.”
Chon is an Afghan war veteran, while Ben is a liberal do-gooder who does humanitarian work in third world countries. To finance life, love and charity, they own and operate a marijuana business that produces the best weed on the planet. Chon supplies the muscle, while Ben supplies the brains.
They make a lot of money, which attracts the attention of Elena, the kingpin of one of the biggest drug operations in the world. Her invitation to become partners is a little indelicate - she sends them video of a few of her enemies parting with their heads - and the boys balk at the suggestion. She kidnaps O to force their compliance.
Stone takes these characters and this state of affairs, puts them in a blender and presses “puree.” The result is a gore-soaked, mean-spirited, ugly mess. The story doesn’t always make sense, but it is consistent.
Mixed into this bloody brouhaha is Dennis, a federal drug enforcement agent on the take played by John Travolta, and Lado, a vicious heavy played with a little too much relish by Beicio del Toro. How these characters cross, double cross and kill each other makes for a busy two hours.
Stone’s directing is more energetic than it has been in some time. “Savages” isn’t as soaked in his trademark style as “The Doors,” but it is more cinematically engaging than his last three movies. Expect lots of desaturated colors, creative transitions and artfully used black and white photography.
My main beef with “Savages” is the ending. Knowing how the book wraps up, I can safely say the conclusion is a cop out, which is disappointing considering Stone seemed to be building up to something with more impact.
However, the movie has two saving graces. One is Salma Hayek’s performance as Elena, who is as ruthless a kingpin as there ever was. Elenda’s daughter refuses to give her the time of day, which is a source of great emotional turmoil to her, and actually helps her to understand Chon and Ben when they come to rescue O. That brings me to the movie’s second saving grace: the way it handles the theme of the duality of human nature. Everyone in the movie has a bad side, and strangely enough, everyone has a good side, no matter how hard it is to see. Even the story, with its balance of hedonism and sentimentality, reinforces this idea.
I will not see “Savages” again, as it’s not my cup of tea. But it’s good to see Stone using muscles I’d thought he’d lost.
Rated “R” for everything. Two-and-a-half stars stars out of four. Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.