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Girl's Eye View: Savages

Allow me to quickly introduce myself: My name is Kara, and I live over at www.karaschatter.com . I have no experience in the movie industry, other than watching and appreciating them. I thought I would offer up my movie reviewing skills, or lack thereof, to The Basement to give readers a female perspective on movies, new, old, good, and bad. 


After watching Blake Lively play a totally believable oxy addict in The Town, I was looking forward to watching her switch things over and playing a stoned-out hippie child named O in Savages. Joined by BC-born actor Taylor Kitsch (playing Chon) and Aaron Johnson (playing Ben) as her love interests, Savages provided a good dose of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. (Okay, not so much rock n' roll, but heads DID roll …)
 
Savages revolves around the luxurious life of three drug-dealing entrepreneurs from Laguna Beach, California. Their love life is … interesting … to say the least, and that's what piques the interest of Mexican drug lord, Elena (played by the gorgeous Salma Hayek). 


In a nutshell, Elena is cheesed that Chon and Ben don't want to make a business deal, and since they both have a little more than an eye for O, she takes advantage of that. As a result, getting even and the love of their lives back is the only thing on Chon & Ben’s mind, and they don’t cut any corners doing it.
 
Rounding out the Mexican drug dealing team are Lado, played by Benicio Del Toro, and Alex, played by Demián Birchir (Weeds). It was rather refreshing to see the pair play the “evil henchmen” in the movie instead of the usual actors. (I find that the same guys play the same roles when it comes to evil Mexican drug lords.) They do an excellent job playing Elena’s bitches and it’s rather amusing to watch the guys hang their heads in shame as she scolds them.

 
John Travolta takes a backseat and plays a small supporting role in the movie as well, which adds a bit of heavy Hollywood hitter credit to the flick. Not that it needs an A-lister like Travolta to give the movie any more credit; it could do with anyone playing this role, but Johnny-boy brings a certain swagger to the role that just works.

 
Overall, I really enjoyed Savages. I expected a little more fire-fight action, but the storyline is exceptional and it was well worth the $7 video-on-demand pricetag. Even the surprise ending was slightly unexpected and pleasant. I give it a Good!

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