I like what I see from Savages, if only because a fairly sophisticated crime thriller would be a step-up from the completely ignorable shit Stone has pumped out in my cinematic lifetime. Like Eddie Murphy, Stone is one of those guys that a person my age or younger has to have explained to them, “look, he didn’t always make shitty movies.”
Now granted, actually watching his classic work and even seeing Born On The Fourth Of July in a theater before hearing the guy talk about it and the world (as I was lucky enough to do at the SavFF last year), it’s clear there’s still a sharp, relevant person in there. It’s just got to come out again on film. I don’t know that Savages is where that will happen, but I dig the vaguely-restrained Tony Scott style on display here. A lot of actors doing fun roles, sun-scorched cinematography, some nasty drug-driven violence… It’s a simple formula for fun and much more interesting than the watered-down moralizing.
The film stars John Carter himself Taylor Kitsch, along with Blake Lively and Emile Hirsch. The roster of older actors surrounding the young upstarts include John Travolta, Benecio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, Uma Thurman, and recent Oscar-nominee Demián Bichir. It hits theaters on July 6th.
Just me, or is Del Toro looking a little Trejorrific in this one? Also, Affleck and his Town have definitely sealed funny-masks as a crime-thriller staple for the next decade.
(via BAD)