Savages

Last night I did not have any type of movie in mind to watch. The first listed movie on HBO GO was Savages, an Oliver Stone movie. I thought that I probably could not go wrong with an Oliver Stone movie, but was intrigued by the title, Savages. I found that it is not your normal Oliver Stone movie, but I enjoyed it even with all of its graphic violence. Savages stars  Blake Lively, Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Benicio Del Toro, and Salma Hayek.

Best friends pacifist Ben (Johnson) and former Afghanistan soldier Chon (Kitsch) have made a lot of money in a thriving marijuana business in Laguna Beach.  Ben and Chon share their fortune plus a beautiful woman named O (Lively). Offered an opportunity to join a powerful Mexican drug cartel run by Elena (Hayek), the boys decide to close up shop rather than agree to such a dangerous union, forcing Elena to intensify her demands by sending enforcer Lado (Del Toro) to kidnap O, using this brazen act to bend Chon and Ben to her will. Unwilling to abandon their love, the pair work out a way to steal money from the cartel to pay for O’s release, only to watch the situation spiral out of control. Left with few options, Chon and Ben work the angles to outwit Elena and Lado, hoping to secure their freedom and O using information provided by crooked FBI Agent Dennis (John Travolta) and hacker banker Spin. 

You can see things are somewhat convoluted in this film, but I still recommend action-packed flick.