Pot growers Ben and Chon face off against the Mexican drug cartel who kidnapped their shared girlfriend.
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Nate H. reviewed Savages (2012)
Review from the comment
According to Savages, the best weed in the world is grown in Afghanistan. I don’t know if this is true or not, but the assertion plays a central role in the film. Taylor Kitsch plays a former soldier who smuggles back enough Afghani marijuana seeds to launch a grow operation. Aaron Johnson steps in as his hippy botanist pal who turns the seeds into the high caliber chronic buds. The strain is so powerful that they immediately corner the market in their southern Cali zone of operation. It’s a great gig, until a cartel led by Salma Hayek wants in on the action. When the two don’t agree, Hayek has her number one goon Benicio Del Toro snatch up their love interest Blake Lively (yes “their” love interest, interesting love triangle going on). Hayek forces the duo to do business with her until the two can figure out a way to get Lively back. I liked Savages. Its a solid action film with a good level of writing to make it slightly more believable then the average popcorn flick. Kudos to Don Winslow for crafting the novel on which Savages is based. Director Oliver Stone does a mostly bang up job on the adaptation , but stumbles sharply in the final act. Still, Del Toro rarely disappoints and his part alone is worth enough to give it a watch. Never before have we seen him this good at being a baddie.