Cinematic Releases: Savages

Oliver Stone finally returns to form with his most brutal and probably best work since Natural Born Killers. The film is a sleek, modern day cartel story that never hesitates in it's fascination with bloodshed and gun play.

Although it's his best movie of the last fifteen years, the film tends to drag on with a run time of almost 130 minutes. A little fat could have been trimmed to make this an absolute powerhouse of a film. But, Oliver Stone chose to flaunt his self indulgent muscles with an absolute triumph of a modern day drug story.

Savages is not only a summer season success story due to the talents of its director. The cast is one of the most diverse I've seen on screen in 2012. It features Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, and Blake Lively in the best roles of their infantile careers. Other main players include John Travolta, Salma Hayek, and Benicio Del Toro in parts they should seriously be thanking Stone for. Maybe Savages will finally start getting them some decent roles again. Supporting roles are played by Demian Bichir and Emile Hirsch.

Savages is probably my favorite movie of the summer so far. Although it's a bit dense at times and has a few unnecessary plot twists, I really enjoyed Oliver Stone's latest work. I hope he continues the trend and starts making more movies of this caliber. It's a violent, modern love story that happens to feature an awesome cast and a great plot. See it.