Savages is the story of two friends who are basically drug dealers. They only deal in marijuana and consider themselves legitimate businessmen because one is the mastermind with a college degree in botany and the other is the enforcer, a former military guy who keeps the product and the transactions safe. And they also have a girlfriend that they live with and share… Right…

Story: It’s actually a decent story… believable though odd. The voiceover throughout the story is the live-in girlfriend. She does a good job of explaining the set up from the beginning – in graphic detail. And the way the details unfold is also well thought out.

The exercises in negotiations for drugs, money and people make sense and occur one after the other… sometimes at the same time. But again, odd but believable.

Characters: The two friends are played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Ben, the brains… Taylor Kitsch as Chon, the brawn and Blake Lively as O, the mutual girlfriend. The dynamic between the three is actually quite perfect as Ben is the sensitive, charitable one while Chon is rough around the edges and very no-nonsense.

And O’s ability to describe them in this way through their sexual encounters is very interesting. One is rough and one is sweet. You get the picture…

Also of note is Salma Hayak as the Mexican drug lord, Elena Sanchez. Her actual performance probably has the most depth. Benicio Del Toro plays Elena’s right-hand man and John Travolta plays a DEA agent with whom Ben and Chon have an “understanding” and working relationship.

No Oscars here, but, definitely some interesting performances.

Visual: Very picturesque. From the first scene in the beach house to Elena’s Mexican villa, it all looks very drug movie. There’s even a scene in the beginning showing Ben doing charity work in Africa and Asia that looks very authentic. Costumes – very drug movie… California heat – very drug movie. Very drug movie…

Rating: I think Savages should be a solid B. It’s a good movie with all of the typical drug movie elements. What puts it over the top is those few moments that are uniquely specific to this story, like the 3 way relationship that seems to work. Or the ending, which, is a bit of a loop.

If I had seen this in the theatre, I would not have felt like I wasted my money, so that’s a good thing. Definitely worth seeing on DVD…