Movie Week – Savages

Image via Return to Fleet

Welcome to the final day of Movie Week here at Fission Spaghetti.  As much as possible I tried to come up with themes to string double features together.  The last theme of Movie Week was Mexican Cartels. 

The first movie of the night was Savages. 

Savages is an Oliver Stone production.  Truth be told, Oliver Stone directed one of my favorite movies; U-Turn.  U-Turn is a cinematic masterpiece.  It’s also possibly tied for Jennifer Lopez’s best performance in film.  I love it. 

But Savages isn’t U-Turn.  Savages is about a couple of pot farmers who run afoul with a Mexican cartel.  It’s also got a nutty love story about an entirely harmonious love triangle.  And it’s about family.  And corruption.  Ok, it’s kind of hard to narrow down everything that Savages encompasses, but it’s a pretty good story. 

That love triangle is a very interesting part of the story.  Chon and Ben are both into and totally share O.  It’s a great arrangement and everyone seems happy with it.  Since Chon is the war vet and Ben is the peaceful intellectual, they both satisfy O’s every need.  Oh and they have a totally awesome weed growing operation. 

Unfortunately a Mexican cartel wants their weed operation.  They offer up some pretty reasonable terms, but Chon doesn’t want to get pushed out of the business.  He’s prideful and stubborn and he’s sort of the reason why things go astray. 

Chon isn’t the most respectful during the negotiations.  The Cartel doesn’t dig the act of disrespect and thing escalate until the Cartel kidnaps O.  It’s crazy and that’s not even including John Travolta as a crooked DEA agent. 

Savages is like some of the best storylines from Breaking Bad jammed into a two hour film with a bigger budget.  Chon makes some frustrating decisions at times, while Ben is weirdly naive. 

For me there were a few thing about the film that I really enjoyed.  Benicio Del Toro’s Lado is incredibly captivating.  And I’ve got to give huge props to Del Toro on his accent work.  A Mexican accent is completely different from a Puerto Rican accent and he nails it. 

Salma Hayek’s Elena is an equally interesting character.  Her backstory makes you sort of wish for a prequel and her vulnerability gives the character such depth.  And Travolta’s Dennis is awesome if only because he sports Travolta’s natural hairline. 

I’m sure the ending was divisive, but I dug it.  It worked for me.  It wasn’t perfect, but I felt fine with it. 

Um, that’s it.