Savages

J’ai mis trois étoiles également pour le livre, celui-ci ne m’ayant pas tellement accroché et m’ayant même pas mal ennuyé vers la fin. Or, avec le film, c’est l’inverse : j’ai trouvé la première partie incroyablement diluée et c’est la fin que j’ai trouvée réussie et qui m’a enthousiasmé. Le final était vraiment savoureux ! Je sais qu’Oliver Stone prend un malin plaisir à faire durer ses films, mais pour Savages, ce n’était franchement pas nécessaire. L’écrit est admiré pour son rythme soutenu et son écriture façon mitraillette, mais malheureusement, on ne peut pas dire la même chose du métrage de deux heures. Et le fait que je me sois endormi deux ou trois fois au cours de la première moitié ne fait que le confirmer ! D’un autre côté, il serait injuste de ne pas souligner le fait que l’adaptation est fidèle à l’œuvre littéraire, sauf que, paradoxalement, c’est plutôt pour lui nuire. Bon, il y a au moins ce final… (11/11/2013)

Oliver Stone is still a master. His bold directorial style, tons of visual flourishes, a perfectly integrated soundtrack and songs; it never gets boring. Its form reminded me a bit of his earlier U-Turn, except that this one has a much better script, with a light Tarantino touch, without annoying clichés, and with a conclusion that is a Stone-esque middle finger to the viewer. With the exception of a somewhat hapless Blake Lively, all the actors were excellent and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the teenage looser from Kick-Ass, went a long way towards charisma. (27/01/2013)

I don’t know, on the surface, Savages wants to be an action thriller with sexy visuals that you’d rather not think too much about, but under the surface, what I see is a stubborn attempt at something postmodern. And its most effective gimmick is disguising narrative incompetence as a subversive game with expectations and thus justifying itself. I wasn’t interested in who does what to whom, who betrays whom and who is screwing whom, as the motivations of most of the characters get lost with each twist and in the end it doesn’t matter at all whether everyone will shoot or forgive each other. Savages are unpredictable… that’s all the justification you need. Uninteresting. (15/11/2012)

Stone received a simple and catchy story (reminiscent of a "metaphysically" truncated version of No Country For Old Men on speed), a genre-appreciative character and the opportunity to shoot a brisk thriller full of irony and black humor. So, what’s left? A formally extremely fragmented affair that reveals persistent efforts and weak self-criticism. Narratively and stylistically, the film conjures up breakneck, constant changes in the way it is shot, color palettes, juggling with depth of field, dynamically composed "narration in narration" - but instead of going forward like "Tony Scott", it tends to get stuck and stutter. After a while, it is not clear why there is so much juggling, as it does not advance the tone of the film anywhere. In addition, for example, the personal narrator will soon reveal that it is not narrative elegance, but rather a sweaty addition to the meaning of the thriller plot, which collapses in his hands. Then there are other things - this film calls for something cool, irony, light situational comedy, provocations. But in all respects, in the end, it comes of very professorial and leathery. Violence, sex, desperate romance - everything is too deliberate and prayed out (even whimpered). Blake Lively as McGuffin is superficial and annoying with her sentiment. The whole story of the war with the drug cartel goes nowhere and the motif of savagery drowns in the narrator's clichéd chatter. It’s too bad, because this could be damn fresh and peppery entertainment. But Stone's hand shouldn't be shaking in this way. Even so, I do not deny a certain spontaneous magic that persuaded me to buy the book.... (17/09/2012)

To start with a rather naive idyll about a love triangle, entwined in ganja roots. But Stoney couldn’t leave it at that. Visual refinement goes without saying, the bloody brutality of the unrated version (could have been a fuck or two richer) adds a good two stars. Taylor Kitsch downright found himself in his role. Del Toro plays the biggest possible asshole with obvious delight and Travolta landed another fine role. The action scenes are right up there with the best, old school quality. Another picture like that, but with a better screenplay next time, please. P.S.: The cellphone ringing tone with “Three Blind Mice" is annoying, but pleasing. Please don’t kill me, I have three young children. (07/12/2012)