Lusty’s Review of “Savages”

I saw an advance screening of “Savages” last night. The trailers are fairly accurate about the content of the movie. Two guys, Ben (Aaron Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch), run a drug business. Ben is a peace loving tree hugger out to save the world and Chon is a violent veteran out to protect said tree hugger. In layman terms: Ben is the brains and Chon is the brawn. The two guys share one girl, Ophelia (Blake Lively), who goes by the nickname O. O is the narrator of the story.

Plot Overview: 

The Mexican Baja Cartel wants a piece of Ben and Chon’s weed business. Ben and Chon don’t want to partner with the cartel, so the leader of the cartel, Elena, has O (Ben and Chon’s lover) kidnapped. Ben and Chon will do anything to get O back. They hatch a plan to rescue O and the bloodshed goes up a few notches. Ben and Chon eventually discover Elena’s weakness and they exploit her weakness in order to save O.  

My Reaction to the Movie:

I was a bit turned off by the beginning of the movie. There was quite a bit of sex and since I knew very little about the characters at that point, it was more like watching soft porn than watching a regular movie. I’m not complaining about seeing Chon’s ass or Ben’s ass but it objectified them so quickly that it took me a few minutes to adjust back to the movie and stop looking at them and thinking naughty thoughts. I’m sure most people won’t have that problem, but the sex and the nudity at the beginning was terribly distracting for me.

Once I settled in to the story, I was struck by the fact that Ben is so much cuter with dreads than with wavy hair. The dreads made him look tougher and sexier. He looked too peaceful with the wavy hair; although that was probably the reason for the change.

Exhibits A and B:

Ben with dreads

Ben with wavy hair

The movie trailers paint Ben and Chon as innocent drug dealers who are pushed to violence because their girl is kidnapped. In the actual movie, Ben and Chon aren’t so innocent.

Each of the major characters is a combination of good and bad, except Lado, Elena's muscle, played by Benicio Del Toro. I didn’t see one redeeming quality about Lado. Even Elena (Salma Hayek) with her twisted logic and brutal orders has redeeming qualities. 

 Most Annoying Thing About the Movie:

The characters kept giving their definitions of “savages.” I would have preferred to draw my own conclusion about the title's connection to the movie.

My Reaction to the End Without Spoiling the Movie:

I didn’t like the end of the movie. For starters, I don’t like “gotcha” type endings. I’m just not a fan. I also thought that more people should have ended up dead. 

Overall Grade: B

Once I got on board with the story, I liked the journey; I just didn’t like the destination.