Stuck in a glut of gangster and crime films at the cinema, it’s remarkable to see that there’s still life and connections for some of the old dogs of the genre. With James Gandolfini going back to work for the mafia in Killing Them Softly for example, it’s time for Oliver Stone to go behind the camera after his breakout script in Scarface and uber violent crime showing of Natural Born Killers. Based on a book, is Savages a welcome return for a quiet don of the crime genre or is he just another soldier on the foot of the bulging ladder?
Ben (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kick-Ass) is the best cannabis cook in the world. Based on Laguna Beach, he runs a highly successful production operation with a policy of “don’t screw with the other guy, so you don’t get screwed back”, but when he does get screwed with, he calls in his ex-Army friend-for-life Chon (Taylor Kitsch, Battleship) to act as his muscle. Their hedonistic and unbeaten lifestyle is made stable by the nymphistic O (Blake Lively, Gossip Girl) and bent FBI agent Dennis (John Travolta, From Paris With Love). However, after seeing the duo’s success from Mexico, the nefarious Sanchez cartel; run by boss Elena (Salma Hayek, Grown Ups) and enforcer Lado (Benicio del Toro, Che); kidnap O in an attempt to get the two to sell out. Following Ben’s philosophy, the drugs duo have to go through hell and high water to get their love back.
The cast from the get go is an odd mix of young stars knocking on the door of the A-List and capable veterans (highlighted by the main three from Laguna Beach). Taylor-Johnson plays a decent philanthropist who’s completely out of his depth when the violent cartel get involved. It’s a welcome departure from his role in Kick-Ass and a double take is needed since he’s aged and matured remarkably since. In contrast, battle scarred Kitsch doesn’t really do much apart from call in his army buddies, and is a minor cog in a much more interesting machine, while the controversial Lively is similar; being a poor rich girl/damsel in distress with too much importance placed on her.
The vets are incredibly more engaging. Del Toro completely eats up the scenery with his fantastic turn as the uber violent Mexican gang member Lado; his facial and top hair are awesome to marvel at, and throw in his pigeonholed accent and we have a really watchable performance. Hayek doesn’t disappoint either, as despite being perhaps typecast as the go-to-girl for middle aged Mexican ladies, she’s still terrific, and it’s refreshing to see a decent mob lady boss for a short time. A small role for Travolta doesn’t make him missable, in a important albeit a tad deus ex machine role.
One of the first things you’ll notice is how visually rich Savages is to look at; the location of Laguna Beach is a prime example of the colourful scale that Stone wants you to pick up on, and reinforces that this is the ‘happy’ place where all the good guys live, but just wait until you see Ben’s money launder’s office (it’s so sugary and sweet you will vomit rainbows). Similar to Drive, it evokes the “stoner” lifestyle, but perhaps it is too much; you can understand Laguna being pretty and clean of course but all of the locales the bad guys turn up in are equally colourful (barring a few nasty execution locales), and even O’s prison doesn’t have the right level of grime, despite being portrayed as “horrible.” Sure, Mexico and California are half similar in culture and setting, but when you have the big bad crime boss sporting a 60’s style, ill-advised, multi-coloured headquarters with little rhyme or reason, it feels almost like reading a comic book designed by a 6-year-old with no sense of colour in terms of archetype; “white is good, black is bad.”
It’s also extremely hard to swallow how obviously perfect Ben’s life is; he and his best friend share the same lover, who love each other equally, with no arguments whatsoever. Of course he’s also a millionaire philanthropist who regularly goes out to poor African countries and does charity work. He hardly even runs his cannabis operation anymore, with him being in a Bill Gates role of his own company. No way is someone this wonderful without some dark edge, but Ben just is. The only feeling you get from Ben is that he’s unintentionally smug and perfect so you’re left praying for something horrendous to happen to him, which almost starts you routing for the bad guys in places.
What had me tearing my hair at the screen even more, were two incredibly stupid cinematic techniques which should not be seen ever again. First off, we have the unreliable narrator with a twist, as O proudly declares at the start “just because I’m telling you my story doesn’t mean I’m alive at the end of it”; which pretty much means there’s going to be a double take ending or similar, and is such a stupid line you can’t take the rest of the film seriously.
We are then “treated” to the aforementioned double take ending; the first is a fantasy from O about what she wishes would happen with a Quentin Tarantino-esque homage/parody ending with all three of the Laguna types badly getting reunited together (in a rather unsubtle turn with how glaringly it takes you out of the film after a decent build), and the second one then happens, but basically turns into a circus clown act with the amount of plot and character juggling needed to wrap everything up (badly). It will leave you gobsmacked, and annoyed, and nosedives itself into utter shambles of an ending.
Having not read the original book, it’s hard to comment on what has and hasn’t been included by Stone in Savages. However there is an expectation from a veteran like him to ignore poor tropes like the double take ending. The rest of the film is otherwise solid, as a terrific soundtrack highlights the clash of the simple Californians against the Mexican cartel, and there are enough violent scenes when needed to make it a worthy addition to the genre. There are some questionable, late-in-the-day, rape scenes and poor representations of women, but in balance there are some strong female moments. Despite this, you get the impression that Stone, despite being technically decent, is coasting with this one, as Savages has none of the knockout elements evident in his earlier films.
Not as savage as you expect it to be, Savages is a good effort from a lacking Oliver Stone but there are some maddening techniques that can happily disappear for good. Questionable character choices does a creditable cast a disservice, and an unintentionally unlikeable main character makes you root for the standard and unevolving bad guys. Consider this a quiet disappointment.
Terry Lewis – @thatterrylewis.
