Welcome to Laguna Beach, California.I The beginning of Savages takes place in a large scale California town, where
I was introduced to the modelesque, rail thin, sunkissed blond Ophelia, called "O"(Blake Lively) and her two smoking, hot boyfriend pot dealers, Chaun,
a soldier from Afghanistan, the steely eyed, tatted up hunk who is described as being "souless" and when engaging in sex with "O", attempts to "f*** the war
out of himself- I have orgasms, Chaun has war gasms." "O"'s second man, is none other than Ben(Emile Hersh) the scraggly haired, ocean blue eyed
peace magnet, who is a charming botantist and approaches the drug dealing business with a Buddhist, zen-like perception. In other words, scenes pan
to Chaun knocking down a door of a gritty apartment complex to obtain money swindled from Ben, and casting the barrel of a gun into a woman's face
before she lets out a squeal of high pitched terror, while Ben is witnessed touring the globe and handing out laptops to poor Asian countries.

Chaun lacks impulse control. He never thinks about what he's doing, and in turn suffers a bit from the consequences of his actions. While Chaun is a
self proclaimed introvert, suffering flashbacks from his role in the war, Ben is a warm, friendly enigmatic youth, he "makes love" with "O", and calls her
his "lotus in water" upon which "O," narrating the film, murmurs "I like that." She admits that her relationships with two guys may come off as "s****y"
and seem wrong, but she sees nothing wrong with the fact that they all love each other and are totally fine with sharing. Hey, they're rich and they know
what they're doing. . . right?

Wrong. I was thrown into a war between the poor, Baja Cartel, a Mexican drug company composed of the witchy, commandeering presence of Elena,
whose heavily made up mug and swath of raven black hair, graced the screen in lightly accented English and who, sensing she's been "f***ed" out of
a deal made with Chaun and Ben, has her henchman grab "O" in a mall one day. In turns equally personal and highly disturbing, "O" is thrust into
an old warehouse in Tijuania. Elena skypes the boys on their prestigious, flat paneled computer the afternoon of the abduction, and demands the
boys attention, as "O"'s life is seemingly on the line, masked men have an axe at her throat and are advised to chop off her fingers unless Chaun
and Ben listen to Elena's instructions and for the first task, deliver three hundred pounds of pure marijuana to her plant based in Cali, "O"'s
execution pending should they back out. Chaun and Ben, terrified for the outcome of "O"'s fate, promise to do anything they can in
exhange for the safe return of "O".

Basically, this movie is comprised of a lot of betrayal. Chaun and Ben are told "O" will be delivered to them once the marijuana is retrieved
from men of the cartel but instead Elena, turns the other cheek, and "O" grows despondent each day she is confined to the prison like
warehouse under the watchful eye of Elena and several cameras rotating around the clock. "O" is stationed to a chain with a cuff
around her ankle and forced to watch TV from a moldy couch with a boy she barely knows while eating pizza on a routine basis
and sleeping on a twin cot bordered by a chain link cage. Enter Latos, a fiery eyed, bushy black haired Mexican, mid forties, who
brutally rapes, and tortures "O" constantly. To him, she is nothing more than the typical, American blond, left at his disposal to
do whatever he wants with.

Latos is a fierce, force not to be reckoned with. He has abused his wife, belittled his children and raped an innocent wealthy
bystander during the hands of a slimy drug deal gone awry. He is second under command of Elena and poses as a Mexican
landscaping business, when someone has betrayed him and he wants to go undercover and terminate their lives, he has his
workers feign mowing the lawn of some coke lawyer while he slips inside the stately white mansion, and unleashes a rain
of bullets, shooting the coke lawyer in the knees and making him "52, and 62." Before he kills the man, Latos asked him:
"How old are you?" The Coke lawyer innocently responds, "42." Latos says raising his eye brows and offering a sly grin
"Azule(another drug dealer, the plot thickens) wants me to make you age. One knee 52, other knee 62." Be prepared for
a blood bath. The Coke lawyer's Indian wife, is grabbed by a handful of hair, lead down the sprawling spiral staircase
and shot in the face by a quivering teenaged boy working under Lato's instructions to "get rid of the evidence. She could be a
witness."

One character aside from Latos, who I liked most was John Travolta. He played a crooked DEA agent and was phenomenal. You
know, he just managed to make me chuckle any time he came into a scene. What was especially funny about his role was the dynamic
way he played it. At one point, Chaun and Ben are sitting in a sweet sports car with him, and Chaun requests information about Elena,
who is the head of the Baja Cartel and has "O" in custody; anyway, Chaun has a knife and out of anger stabs John Travolta in the hand.
John Travolta, blood gushing from his wound, shrieks in well repressed fury and indignation: "You just stabbed a Federal Agent!" That just
got me. John Travolta is definitely a talented actor and I would love to see him more action packed flicks like this. It's incredible given his
age that he still possesses a wide range of superior acting and just soaks up the scenes with much gusto.

A lot of the film has some stunning imagery, sun soaked beaches, glorious oceans, the works. And sometimes I found myself
getting lost in the breathtaking visuals. Because, Stone focused so much at certain points of the film on imagery, the message
of "Savages" was lost on me. Obviously, you've got your betrayal, your seasoned killings, your ruthless "Mexican queen bee"
centered on destruction left and right, but my real issue with it was that you never got into the minds of the characters. Here is
Elena whose husband died, whose twin sons were murdered, and who has a strained relationship with her nineteen year old
daughter,surviving heir Magdalena, who wants nothing to do with her, why? Because she's a psychotic, murderess who kills people all
in the name of a good pot deal. But I, as the viewer, was never able to connect to that side of her, because each and
every scene felt so short-lived. Stone directed his movie on gun play, splashing the cast members in fake blood, and
schtinillating car chases, as opposed to say, giving his characters some life, his whole movie was filled with imagery.
And that alone, is not enough to elicit a stronger response in me.

I would like to have seen more intimate moments between Chaun, Ben, and "O." At the start of the film, "O"
introduces everyone involved in her life and the love scenes between her and Ben were just phenomenal. There's a
gilded bathtub overflowing with water in a bathroom overlooking the pristine blue ocean and "O" wearing a skimpy,
bright yellow dress collapses on top of a nude Ben. Ben and her start making out, but it's really intense because of
the way they act around each other. Ben's lips and scruff tickle "O"'s face and gradually they move to a huge canopy bed.
The mast like, white curtains of the bedroom billow in the balmy breeze trickling through a set of wide open doors, and I
see Ben lifting "O" in her sopping dress to the feather light mattress and it's just beautiful the way Oliver Stone set up the love affair.
"O"'s narration definitely highlighted each moment and left a lasting impact on me. To her, Chaun and Ben are one and same
man, and by that I mean Chaun has certain characteristics of his personality that leave "O" wanting more and that she finds in
Ben, "Chaun f***s, Ben makes love. . . Chaun is steel, Ben is wood" according to "O".

Still, the movie is WORTH seeing; if you have nothing to do on a rainy day and wish to occupy your time with
something seriously entertaining, packed with action, and sweaty love scenes, this is the movie for you. If you
like black and white video shots of an ocean with frothy waves buffeting against jutting, angled rocks, where
you get yourself hopelessly tangled in "O"'s web of lies. She is at one point, found saying: "I could be
dead by now, talkin' to you from the bottom of the ocean. This could all be pre-recorded," leaving
the viewer to wonder if this true or not. A lot of the movie is trivial and has been demonstrated in
other films for centuries. For instance, when "O" is hallucinating and imagining the outcome of
a certain situation(I won't reveal what) the way it is carried out in her head is reminiscent of Bach
Luchman's rendition "Romeo and Juliet" and eerily identical to the way Romeo and Juliet's card
is dealt. Instead of poision, you're left with 3 vials of morphine, a lethal enough amount to kill
you. But I also admired the acting in that scene. "O' shivers, and says she's "cold", while Ben
is dying from a gunshot wound, Chaun shot in the leg turns toward her, and spoons in the wake
of their final moments together.

Okay. . . so one last thing. The soundtrack for "Savages" is off the chain. And I mean, you really should
type into your own personal search engine, and drag up the web page citing the list of songs included
throughout the duration of the film, because wow. The dubstep number "White noise" will make your
head bob and your body break into rhythm. The best song by far, in my opinion was "Massive Attack"
by Paradise Circus(Gui Boratto Remix). It's lyrics are haunting. If you're a techno junkie, and mix
w****, you'll enjoy this song. If you watched the movie as much as I did(a record total 3 times!)
you'll continually replay this song on your i-pod, mp3 device, recounting the scene wherein "O,"
Chaun and Ben, are high as kites, sitting on massive, silk and Persian throw pillows, heads tilted
up toward the nightime sky, where a still of the inky black sky is ignited with mega white hot
stars and each character exclaims in wonder at the sight, it's that hypnotizing.