Hollywood Product: ‘Savages’
Oliver Stone’s drug-fueled thriller gets high on its own supply.
- Courtesy of Universal Pictures
- DIO DE LOS MUERTES: Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson in ‘Savages’
GENRE: Ultraviolent, ultra-stylish crime drama
THE PITCH: Elena, the head of a Mexican drug cartel (Salma Hayek) kidnaps Ophelia (Blake Lively), the shared girlfriend of botany genius Ben (Aaron Johnson) and hard-boiled war vet Chon (Taylor Kitsch) in a bid to seize control of Ben and Chon’s boutique California marijuana business.
MONEY SHOTS: Bong hits signal the beginning of a languorous ménage a trois between Ben, Chon and Ophelia (who prefers to go by “O”). Hayek’s lipstick-emblazoned mouth fills the screen when she issues sinister orders. Ben and Chon rob a desert cash-drop as part of an undeclared war against the cartel. When a woman spits in his face of brutal enforcer Lado (a swaggering Benecio del Toro), he calmly wipes the saliva with his finger, licks it and uses her hair to dry his face.
BEST LINE: Elena observes to O. that the only way her relationship with Ben and Chon can work is “if they love each other more than they love you.”
BEST BAD LINE: “He’s always trying to fuck the war out of his himself. I have orgasms. He has wargasms,” O. says in voice-over while having sex with Chon. Lively’s sunbaked delivery can’t sell the sleazy attitude in Savages’ dialogue.