A drug- and money-addled whirlwind of psychotic oneupmanship as well as a testament to the value of an omnivorous popular culture, Savages is Oliver Stone getting down and dirty and druggy. The end result, adapted from Don Winslow's novel by the author, Stone and Shane Salermo, is a glorious feast of violence, mayhem, dirty money and outstanding domestic and international booty. Good-hearted botanist Ben (Aaron Johnson) and stone-cold Army vet Chon (Taylor Kitsch) run a pleasant and progressive pot organization in California. The problem is, one of Mexico's biggest cartels has decided it wants to "go into partnership" with the two.
This is a sign to get out while the getting is good, so they aim to take their beloved girlfriend O (think Shakespeare, not Réage) and haul ass to Indonesia. Unfortunately, the head of the cartel in question (Salma Hayek, with Bettie Page bangs and brassy tenacity) has dispatched her right-hand psycho (Benicio del Toro) to kidnap O (Blake Lively) and set in motion two-plus hours of exploding, shredding, chainsaw-decapitating, pagan-sacrificing madness — after this film, I would happily hand Stone the keys to the Paranormal Activity and Funny Games franchises as well.
You know a movie is good when you hear "What the fuck?!?" exclaimed in several different languages as something particularly batshit crazy happens. You'll live in fear of the sounds of gardening and lawn work for the rest of your life after you see this one, folks. John Travolta, as a gleefully corrupt DEA agent, hasn't been this much fun since Hairspray, and Hayek throws down in such a way as to guarantee that drag queens will dress as her this Halloween. It's great when good filmmakers make good movies — but it's even better when good filmmakers make insane movies. JASON SHAWHAN
