Audience Stone-d, but film never gets high

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UNIVERSAL Menage �� weed: From left, Kitsch, Lively and Johnson rough it in Savages. (POSTMEDIA)

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UNIVERSAL Masked men: Kitsch (left) and Johnson. (POSTMEDIA)

When a novel is adapted into a movie, convention has it that the book will be streamlined of any extraneous incidents.

Ever perverse, director Oliver Stone actually throws added material into Don Winslow's already streamlined novel Savages.

The essential stuff remains. Ophelia, a.k.a. "O" (Blake Lively) is a Laguna Beach babe who forms the feminine side of menage trois relationship between pals Chon (Taylor Kitsch), an Iraq war vet, and Ben (Aaron Johnson), a neo-hippie.

They're best buds bonded by Southern California's best bud, a potent marijuana strain perfected by businessman/botanist Ben, and protected/enforced by Chon, a guy with no karmic qualms about employing violence when necessary.

It soon becomes necessary. The lads are contacted by the Baja Cartel, a besieged Mexican criminal empire looking to expand northward, headed by ruthless matriarch "La Reina" Elena (Salma Hayek). A video depicting the beheadings of the cartel's enemies is sent with an invitation to join forces. Ben and Chon decline anyway. So Elena's brutish enforcer Lado (Benecio Del Toro) kidnaps O.

The boys don't take this kind of thing lying down. Employing intelligence supplied by corrupt DEA cop Dennis (John Travolta), Ben and Chon launch a surreptitious counter-attack on the cartel. Meanwhile, the captive O must not only live through the queasy attentions of Lado, she forms a kind of twisted filial relationship with Elena, whose own daughter despises her.

When he isn't doing politically motivated films such as JFK and Wall Street, Stone does like to dip his toes in the realm of contemporary crime movies. He directed the underrated 1997 thriller U Turn and we probably need not remind you he was the screenwriter of the over-the-top gangster epic Scarface.

Stone should feel at home with this story because, in a way, he may himself be the embodiment of the two male heroes, one a spiritual seeker and the other, the haunted warrior of Platoon.

But despite the sex, drugs and violence of the premise, Stone doesn't really seem to click with this material. He adds some unnecessary and confusing narrative that only seems to exist to pad out Travolta's screen time. He leaches much of the sardonic humour from Winslow's book. And what he does with the denouement is an outright travesty, a schizoid blend of existential despair and Hollywood ending.

One one level, Savages is about the futility of making a deal with the devil. Read Winslow's book and see the end of this movie, and you'll have to conclude Stone must have made a deal of his own.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Other voices

Selected excerpts from reviews of Savages:

More than two hours long -- and building to two endings, one romantic-tragic and one quasi-ironic and romantic-ludicrous -- Savages is bloated with plot and exposition...

-- Karina Longworth, Village Voice

With Savages, Stone gets his mojo back and pulp-fiction fans are all the better for it.

-- Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News

Savages is an enjoyably gratuitous romp, but with something to say.

-- Christy Lemire, Associated Press

The disreputable Oliver Stone of old makes a largely welcome reappearance.

-- Justin Chang, Variety

Savages represents at least a partial resurrection of (Stone's) more hallucinatory, violent, sexual and, in a word, savage side.

-- Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter

When John Travolta and Benicio Del Toro show up for extended, cartoonish dialogues, you'll wonder what year it is, and let out a sigh of relief that the moment is long gone.

-- Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York

The superb craftsmanship and care behind Savages only helps to underscore what an asinine, unconvincing picture this is.

-- Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald

Oliver Stone's dynamic direction elevates what could have been just another ultra-violent crime-thriller into an ironic, darkly humorous, and even poignant chronicle.

-- Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Stone's uneven direction veers from near-amateurish genre antics to an enjoyable awareness of those same standards.

-- Eric Kohn, indieWIRE

After decades of digging beneath the surface, Stone understands the synthesis of good and evil in a way that weekend savages cannot.

-- Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Ultra-violent but also satirical, with dark humor, luscious photography, and convincing performances.

-- Harvey S. Karten, Compuserve

Stone creates a gritty and violent modern crime-thriller that's both literary and lyrical at the same time.

-- Edward Douglas, ComingSoon.net

While this is a ridiculously violent movie at times and there are some big chaotic action scenes, there's something delicate and small about Savages, and I like that about it as well.

-- Drew McWeeny, HitFix

Compiled by Shane Minkin

Savages

Starring Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively and Aaron Johnson.

Grant Park, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne.

18A

130 minutes

2 1/2 out of five stars

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 6, 2012 D5