Savages

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)

A visually incredibly sophisticated and attractive, color-filtered, tuned, purely "image-based" film. Not that the solid plot would be on the second place, but fans of the director's work know exactly what to expect. For an uninitiated viewer, it will be a consistent film in all aspects and a solid experience whether in the cinema or a high-quality home projection, for example on DVD. Well-acted and musically stylish, the film has a solid pace and an appealing feeling, as always, skillfully reflecting the present time. This time, instead of sports, we have drugs here, but it’s still watchable. (10/02/2013)

Way too long of a film - the double ending was the height of stalling. The last properly atmospheric scene came about an hour after the beginning (a thrilling ride with a police car at its heels), and from then until the end, Savages (with the exception of the robbery of the car with the money) became a boring spectacle that almost surprised me at the end. Almost (see my note about the double ending). I saw two ordinary, expressionless dummies in the lead male roles, which is why I was much more interested in the characters of Salma Hayek and Benicio Del Toro. Are you surprised by that? It wasn't a bad watch, but I expected better from Oliver Stone. (03/03/2013)

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 returned with a film that tries to make us forget about movies like "Alexander the Great" or "World Trade Center" and instead reminds us of his earlier works. Comparisons to "Natural Born Killers" can mostly be found in the movie "Savages". "Savages" is an adrenaline-filled action that literally grabs the viewer. Handheld cameras are used, as well as normal cameras and even Skype. Oliver Stone decided to make a modern film and used modern technology to do so. Thanks to them, the film is quite animalistic, but this is mainly reflected in the relationship between the three main characters. Blake Lively ("The Town"), Taylor Kitsch ("John Carter: Between Two Worlds") and Aaron Taylor-Johnson ("Kick-Ass" and "Anna Karenina") form a love triangle, where both men love the woman and she loves them both. Surprisingly, it works for them. They love her so much that they are willing to risk their lives for her. This brings me to a storyline that simply did not sit well with me. The relationship is portrayed as animalistic, it is not, at least at first glance, a deep feeling, yet both men are crazy enough to kill and endure wounds for the girl. Like two teenagers who think that love for one woman is everything. Maybe it is for them, maybe not, but the characters are not portrayed in a way that I actually believe it. Script-wise, it seems a bit unmanageable to me. The film wants to be Tarantino-esque, but it lacks interesting dialogues. There are interesting characters here (Salma Hayek, Benicio del Toro, John Travolta), but they all seem exactly what Stone needed them to be. An uncompromising mobster who is still a mother, an assassin for whom nothing is sacred, and an agent who is similar, just not as much of a killer. It's as if everything here has been seen before. An adrenaline-fueled spectacle that is diluted by expected characters. And there is not that much adrenaline either. In addition, the script allows for a twist at the end, but it is just for the sake of an effect. I don't want to forgive those "jokes". I didn't like it in Haneke's presentation either, but he went really far with it, it already ruined the quite terrible "Twilight" series, and for me, it also ruins "Savages". More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2013/01/divosi-10-years-divoka-stvoreni-lets.html (05/03/2013)

Oliver Stone, even at his advanced age, still stuns with his creativity (this time, once again, extremely dynamic direction is also supported by a properly punchy "pulp screenplay") and very emphatically sends a raised middle finger to those who might want to clap him into the irons of old. I haven't seen so much energy, so many ideas, so many great actors, so much spontaneity, and actually a very (un)viewer-friendly ending to this extent anywhere lately. This is the Stone I've always enjoyed the most, whether in Natural Born Killers or U-Turn. A little bit the Coen brothers, a little our old pal Quentin, but in a lot of ways the master is still very original. Plus it’s all highly addictive :)))) (23/12/2013)