FILM REVIEW: ‘Savages’ Gets Stoned

Somewhere between Showtime’s increasingly cartoonish Weeds, Steven Soderbergh’s superlative (and prescient) ensemble piece about the absurdity of the drug wars, Traffic, and a rejected spec fashion film for Hugo Boss Resort Collection lies Oliver Stone’s Savages.  I have so much to say about this film both good and bad that I don’t know if a simple post is enough to cover everything, but let me try, and squeeze in a list to boot.

Oliver Stone is a larger-than-life character, both to himself and to the world in general, and all of his films reflect that.  His works is almost always engaging to some degree, as intellectual as commercial cinema is allowed to get.  Even if you are thrown off by an odd performance on screen, there is usually something to distract you visually while you wait to move on to the next set piece.