I didn't like Natural Born Killers. I didn't like Platoon. I didn't like Any Given Sunday. I refuse to watch Alexander (even though I own it). I am afraid to watch The Doors (even though I want to). I could care less about all that other stuff. But I REALLY wanted to see Savages.
Perhaps it was those cool masks that were left over from The Town or maybe it was that poster (among my favorite movie posters of all time). It certainly wasn't Taylor Kitsch. Seriously, how can he be the star of three movies this year and also be the worst actor in all three of these movies? I liked John Carter, but that guy is doing a constant in-costume Batman impression and he's not even trying to hide his identity. But I got past this. The rest of the cast was awesome and it has guns in it. GUNS! So, I went to see it.
If you are still hell-bent on seeing this movie upon reading my review, I recommend arriving 15 minutes late. You will miss nothing but the two asses of the main actors in your face and Blake Lively (and the award for the most ironic last name of all time goes to...) narrating with what has to be the most unnecessary exposition of all time. After this horrible opening, Benicio Del Toro finally graces the screen with his presence. He kept me in the theater. He is awesome in this movie. Other than that, here are some pros and cons for Savages

Pros: Benicio, Salma Hayek, John Travolta for his first scene, Jarring gunfire (in a good way), The guy with the robot ears from Grandma's Boy

Cons: Kitsch, Lively, John Travolta for the rest of his scenes, A soundtrack so random and distracting that Oliver Stone must have found a Mexican hipster's iPod and put it on shuffle, Lines like, "Chon Fucked... Ben made love," and calling one a Buddhist and one the "baddest".

My main problem with the film was something completely unexpected, however. When I saw the trailer and learned that both of the men would be with Blake Lively, I actually thought it would be interesting. In reality, it is one of the most pointless themes I have seen in a movie. They could have easily made that one character or two friends. Or, they could have done it well. Either way, I would have been happier with the ridiculous crap that it I saw.

Its hard for me to dismiss this movie because of how amazing Benicio is. Whenever the movie was focused on him or Hayek, it really kept me interested. But everything else was just the same trite garbage I have come to expect from Oliver Stone. For a man who is looked at as ambitious and edgy, he sure has some cliches in his movies. Oh, and did I mention that he word "savages" is spoken at LEAST 8 times.