‘Savages’ cracking tale about drugs
broadminded, so they share a girlfriend, O – as in Ophelia (Blake Lively) – a set-up they all seem quite happy about.
But clearly there is a dearth of emotional entanglement here – breezy open relationships and glibly sharing your girl with your best pal is a titillating plot gimmick in this case. In real life, someone would eventually end up with a bloody nose, there would be smashed furniture, and at least one member of the party would be out on the street.
But besides, this trio have the far greater distraction of drug transactions to worry about. This, by the way, is an innovative multi-pronged trade – both above board through the medical profession, and naturally the lucrative but not so legal route.
And they seem to be blissfully right on top of their game until (and wouldn’t you just know it, this always happens when your business is sailing) someone in the same line gets the feeling their toes are being stepped on.
And if it happens to be a Mexican drug cartel run by the ruthless Elena (Salma Hayek), then you had better hope you weren’t wearing army boots when you were doing that toe-stomping.
Footage they receive of decapitated Mexican drug dealers kind of paints the picture the cartel is trying to get across of them wanting a piece of the pie.
The next thing O is kidnapped and the action swings into higher gear. Even the good guys who aren’t so good, turn real nasty and you see why Savages is an appropriate title for a movie insisting there are degrees of morality.
Stone is adept at showing his audiences how that scale can become impossibly blurred when you’re dealing with the quirkiness of the human condition.