6 / 10
Savages is Oliver Stone’s 2012 American crime drama adapting Don Winslow’s 2010 novel. The film depicts two California marijuana entrepreneurs whose girlfriend is kidnapped by the Baja Cartel. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Ben, the chemistry-trained grower. Taylor Kitsch plays Chon, the ex-Navy SEAL enforcer. Blake Lively plays Ophelia, the shared girlfriend. Salma Hayek plays cartel leader Elena. Benicio del Toro plays cartel enforcer Lado. John Travolta plays a corrupt DEA agent. The screenplay was written by Shane Salerno, Don Winslow, and Stone. The film was produced by Universal Pictures and grossed approximately 82 million dollars worldwide.
The work is Stone’s late-career attempt to engage with contemporary American drug trade material. The film operates effectively in individual sequences but struggles to maintain coherent broader argument. The Travolta supporting performance is among the work’s strongest elements. The Hayek-del Toro cartel scenes generate substantial dramatic tension. The young leads don’t match the surrounding cast’s accumulated authority. The screenplay generates plot situations effectively but doesn’t develop characters at sufficient depth to support the runtime. The result is uneven commercial drama that suggests stronger work than it delivers.
The Hayek-del Toro Cartel Sequences
Salma Hayek’s performance as cartel leader Elena and Benicio del Toro’s performance as enforcer Lado produce the film’s strongest dramatic content. The actors bring accumulated authority that the surrounding cast cannot match. The cartel sequences operate at dramatic intensity that the marijuana entrepreneur sequences don’t achieve.
The casting reflects Stone’s specific interest in the cartel material as central dramatic content. The director’s screenplay choices and production approach emphasize the cartel sequences over the American protagonist material. The technique produces dramatic imbalance between the two storylines but suggests where the work’s actual interests sit. The completed film operates more effectively in the cartel material than in the American protagonist material.
For Writers
Casting can reveal a work’s actual dramatic interests when supporting performances exceed lead performances. Savages’s cartel sequences operate at higher register than its American protagonist material. Apply this to fiction. Consider whether your supporting and lead character investments align with your dramatic interests.
The Travolta Supporting Performance
John Travolta’s supporting performance as a corrupt DEA agent produces the film’s other strong dramatic element. The character requires sustained moral ambiguity combined with continuing institutional authority. Travolta plays both registers without breaking the broader character coherence. The performance suggests what Travolta could have delivered if the film had centered him instead of the young leads.
The supporting role reflects Travolta’s capacity to deliver committed work in appropriate material. The actor’s late-career filmography has included substantial range from major dramatic roles to commercial action to occasional commercial failures. Savages represents one of the stronger entries in this varied late career. The performance demonstrates the actor’s continuing professional reliability even when the surrounding material doesn’t match his contribution.
For Writers
Established performers can deliver committed work in appropriate material across long careers. Apply this to creative work broadly. Consider whether your established contributors continue to develop or operate at reduced register in later career.
The Stone Late Career
Oliver Stone’s filmography had included JFK (1991), Natural Born Killers (1994), and substantial earlier major work. The director’s late career has produced varied results. Savages represents one of the stronger late entries despite its structural problems. The work demonstrates the director’s continuing interest in American institutional engagement combined with reduced capacity for sustained dramatic development.
The film reflects broader directorial challenges that veteran directors face in contemporary commercial cinema. Stone’s distinctive techniques including aggressive editing, multiple film stock variations, and direct political commentary don’t align cleanly with contemporary commercial expectations. The completed film attempts to deploy these techniques within commercial framework that constrains them. The result is uneven but more interesting than purely commercial alternative would have produced.
For Writers
Distinctive techniques can become constrained within contemporary commercial expectations. Apply this to creative work broadly. Consider whether your distinctive approaches operate freely or face constraints from contemporary commercial requirements.
Craft Note
The Salerno-Winslow-Stone screenplay represents collaborative adaptation that combines source material knowledge with directorial perspective. The completed screenplay doesn’t fully resolve the tensions between these contributions. Multi-author screenplays require substantial coordination that this production didn’t fully achieve.
Is Savages worth watching?
Savages is uneven commercial drama that suggests stronger work than it delivers. The Hayek-del Toro cartel sequences produce the film’s strongest dramatic content. The Travolta supporting performance demonstrates what committed work in appropriate material can produce. The young leads don’t match the surrounding cast’s accumulated authority. The Stone direction maintains distinctive interest despite structural problems. Watch it for audiences interested in late Stone, in the supporting cast performances, or in films that operate effectively in individual sequences without achieving coherent broader argument.
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The Craft Behind It
This film appears on 2 of my film lists