Love in threes “Savages”, coming out here as “Very Dangerous”, could have become a clearly verified modern masterpiece in the spirit of “Natural Born Killers” of the same Stone, but it was not possible to enter the same river twice. No, the film turned out to be good and even the thrash nonsense that grew on the final in the spirit of Tarantino was correctly corrected in the last minutes in the correct and only true for such a story finale, but Stone either lost his grip or made many mistakes on the plot and in the technical side of the project.
Two drug dealers grow the best weed at the expense of knowledge in botany, but small business will always be hampered by large “monopolists” from the mafia who want to pick up a couple of geniuses for themselves. Those, of course, are not happy with this, and in general they are going to soon get out of business, quitting with crime, because they have a threesome there - both share one girl into two, not wanting to share and part.
Stone perfectly selected a star and experienced cast for secondary important roles, but categorically lost with “new blood”. If Salma Hayek delightfully plays the bitchy and strict “mother” of the mafia, Travolta is amazing in the form of a corrupt cop, and Benicio Del Toro plays a killer so that from every look of him goosebumps, then the whole basic trinity is nothing.
Superhero Kick-Ass – Aaron Johnson does not look at all in the image of a nerd who took up arms to save his beloved, and Taylor Kitsch after a wave of blockbusters here looks just a mediocre sapport, a bouncer closet, without the slightest soul, charm and charisma. But the main disadvantage of the picture is ignorance as found in the center of the plot Blake Lavely, completely far from the female beauty and causing complete bewilderment from the amount of admiring directorial attention to himself.
According to the concept, the entire film is told in the voiceover of her character, constantly interrupting the action with worthless “noir” dialogues, the essence of which is to give the audience a false intrigue, whether the heroine will survive. Because every five minutes, she's going to remind you that "just because I'm telling you this story doesn't mean I'm still alive" and all that. Moreover, with an incredible abundance of sex scenes with this pseudo-beauty, Blake will never even undress in the frame, in order to somehow justify the rampant orgy that slows down the plot with absolutely censored insertions of acts of love.
The film in general, even with its seemingly adult rating and content, is shot so modestly, cautiously and crumpled. Even a terrible opening scene with a chainsaw will not show in the frame absolutely no open cruelty, let alone cover and modesty of everything else. Yes, there are a couple of bloody shootouts and one scene with a topless naked woman who has nothing to do with the plot, there are bright bursts in the spirit of the scene with Travolta and a knife in the car, but all the bright spots in the film are clearly not enough to pull him out of the category of disposable and just “not bad”.
Stone did not make the expected drive and madness, slowed down the action at every possible corner and chose a completely incorrect presentation of the material on behalf of the kidnapped girl, veiling the whole essence of what is happening and not revealing the potential of the plot to its fullest. The film, as if surrounded by scissors of censorship, preventing you to turn around, sometimes it all looks like a patchwork blanket, few interconnected scenes, and sometimes juicy cutting for a trailer or video clip, but almost never comes out a whole story and a clear plot.
However, the plot itself here is extremely simple, mixed with connections between the characters, resulting in elegant final twists, from frankly banal to healthy and interesting. And the film is really good. It is worth watching and should be recommended. But very much is not enough here to have the desire to see it again and really make some kind of landmark event.
“Specially Dangerous” turned out to be a moderate version of what could be claimed if the film was more relaxed and took Stone to the lead roles of much more interesting and talented young actors.
On the other hand, at least did without glamorous “gay-beauties” like Efron or Pattinson in order to appeal to the harsh male crime thriller and female audience. And after all, Kitsch and Johnson actors, unlike the talentless Laveley, are quite good, but the entourage and roles they have chosen here are completely inappropriate.
And Stone, well, he did not lose the credit of trust, and finally getting out of all the murmur about Wall Street, kind of, was going to return to a cheerful and spectacular movie, and if after the “Savages”, which became only a successful warm-up, a real masterpiece follows, then this film will still be a landmark in the director’s filmography, preparing the ground for new achievements and a powerful return.
7 out of 10
Original