Review: Savages

Release date: September 21
Certificate: 15
Starring: Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, Salma Hayek, Taylor Kitsch
Director: Oliver Stone

What's the story? Californian dealers Ben (Johnson) and Chon (Kitsch) are made an offer they can't refuse by a Mexican cartel run by Elena (Hayek). When they do refuse it and try to do a runner, she kidnaps their mutual girlfriend O (Lively).

What did we think? A tawdry mixture of threesome melodrama and high stakes kidnap thriller, this has its pleasures but suffers from a confused tone to the point where you're not sure if the laughs are intentional. Still, Hayek and sidekick Benicio Del Toro keep their tongues firmly in their cheeks.

Oliver Stone had begun to recover his post-Alexander reputation with W. but this confused film is a step back, if not a complete disaster.

It opens as a sunny introduction to the blissful polygamous life of dedicated stoner/shopper O (Lively), who shares a beautiful home with her handsome lovers, who happen to big the best weed growers in the world.

When they come under threat from murderous dealers and have to bolt, do they pack their bags? No, they go out for a lovely dinner, have sex and then she rounds it off with a trip to the mall.

You start to run out of sympathy with this particular kidnap victim here, and when she starts to complain about the lack of salad in her lodgings it barely helps. Still, there is suspense as her boyfriends plot a rescue mission, and there's murky mystery to unfold as FBI agent Dennis (Travolta) gets increasingly involved.

The settings are stunning, too: Hayek wafts around glamorous locations in serious heels and designer gear ordering her lackeys around in a suitably domineering fashion. And who better to play a threatening Mexican hitman than Benicio del Toro? Stone certainly isn't short of acting talent.

What he is short on is credibility: not only is O hard to care about but she and her boys are hard to believe in, too - an error that means the thrills of Savages are entirely superficial.

Verdict: There's fun and flesh but not quite enough to compensate for a simplistic plot and characters - you end up feeling like you're watching a dodgy daytime soap.