By Jeremy Hannaford (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: July 18, 2012
Blake Lively’s character O states at the beginning of Savages that just because she is addressing the audience does not mean that she is alive at the end. While this tries to give a feeling of dread and concern for the characters, it rather feels like half-witted attempt to keep the audience interested. That is Savages in a nut shell: attempting to keep the audience entertained rather than actually entertaining them.
Oliver Stone is one director that is past his prime but just doesn’t seem to know it yet. His ongoing ambition to film and create stories is laudable, but his overall quality of storytelling and direction has truly begun to sink as can be seen in this “savaged” film.
Speaking of sinking, this happens to be British Columbia’s own Taylor Kitsch’s third attempt at making a film that won’t turn into another box office bomb like John Carter and Battleship. Kitsch plays Chon, the muscle of the two pot dealers, and he plays the part with less bravado and anger then one would expect. He adds more precision and aggressive action to the character, but the story unfolds so predictably that his unique aspects are wasted.
Another wasted element of this film is Aaron Johnson’s character Ben. His character is ludicrous in terms of humanitarian standards. When he is not growing the best weed in North America, he’s travelling the world bringing aid to Third World countries and helping poor children learn how to read and write. He is the weaker of the two, the one who wishes to resolve rather than attack. His preposterous ideals and motives make him entertaining to watch, but not in a way that would be deemed commendable.
Nothing pales in comparison, however, to that of Blake Lively’s performance. O is so unbelievably plain that it truly makes the audience wonder why these two men are so dead set on saving her. Her character is as dry and boring as a wooden board and ultimately insulting to women.
For the impression that Savages unfortunately presents is that women are apparently weak and predictable. Salma Hayek’s character is at first interesting when switching back and forth from a ruthless cartel leader to a caring mother of a teenage daughter. But as the film comes to its final minutes, she breaks face and becomes weak and irrational.
Instead of presenting a genuine and entertaining story, the audience is blasted with noise. Bright pretty noise that not only dumbs down the script, but also makes the dialogue wasted. There are moments in the film where the music is playing so loud that one can barely make out what anyone is saying.
This attempt to intensify scenes and build tension is negligible when the audience can’t follow where the tension is leading, which is ultimately a bizarre and quite embarrassing finale. Stone presents a double ending to this film, and one is left wondering which is the more moronic decision: the predictable drivel of the first ending, or the fact that Stone calls for a do-over without having taken out the previous ending in the editing room.
Savages is messy and predictable with subpar performances and irrelevantly bright colors. O quotes after the poor excuse of an ending that she has “never felt more alive.” But to the audience, she has never seemed alive to begin with.
