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Film: Savages

It isn't very good, which I suppose shouldn't be a surprise.  I get easily fooled by trailers for classical action movies.  Basically, if I see a trailer for an original action movie, my mind automatically thinks - oh, maybe that'll be good.  Even though common sense and experience should tell me better.  For chrissake, I though the Tourist looked good.  And I justify all these things by saying - oh, well, it's The Lives of Others director or maybe Oliver Stone has something left in the tank, rather than reading the writing on the wall.  Maybe it is just that hard to make a good movie and the system has pivoted just enough in a funky direction to make it all but impossible.  I don't mean to say this as some sort of "movies-are-going-to-hell" old man diatribe, but you do find, more often than not, disappointed at the movies rather than delightful surprise.  Only really two films have delighted me recently - The Grey and Knight and Day - and these aren't even very recent, when I was like "holy shit, those were actually pretty damn good movies."

Tim Riggins doesn't play on the big screen.  Sorry, Riggins!  He seems to lack intelligence, if you ask me.  And to carry a movie, I think you need to come across as bright.  Not intellectual, but bright.  Think of how smart Bruce Willis is in Die Hard.  Even Schwarzenegger and Stallone, who in essence made their bones by being "dumb action heroes," if you analyze it and examine their works, are actually much cagier and smarter than a trailer of their films would have you think.  Stallone - you can tell - is just playing dumb.  Mumbling, ugh, ugh, Adrian, I'm not so bright.  Yeah, right, dude.  He knows what he is doing.  Same with Schwarzenegger.

As for the rest of the movie, Benecio is watchable, but there are too many characters doing too simple and too stupid of plans.  The POV is strange and at times you are way ahead of your main characters.  There is a totally annoying voice over.  Blake Lively is bleh.  The 3-way relationship makes no sense to anyone whose been in any type of relationship.  Anyhow, I could go on, but really, what's the point?