O spends many a day at the mall's most luxurious stores. The threesome live in a beach-front mansion. The payroll includes computer experts, bankers, growers, distributers, and at least one shady federal agent. It's a happy little ménage à trois with lots of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Ben, who majored in business and botany at UC-Berkeley, took those seeds and made them even better.Ĭhon and Ben live with O, short for Ophelia, (Blake Lively of Gossip Girl, The Town), who loves them both, it appears, equally and with abandon.Ĭhon is 'cold metal,' as O narrates, while Ben is 'warm wood.' Their rock-solid friendship dates back to high school and their belief in each other has helped them build a lucrative marijuana business.Ĭhon, an ex-Navy Seal with a violent streak, brought back from Afghanistan the strongest marijuana seeds he could find.

Savages is the story of long-time friends and now business partners Chon (Taylor Kitsch of Friday Night Lights, John Carter) and Ben (British actor Aaron Johnson of Albert Nobbes). Getting beyond the unnecessary violence, Savages emerges as a sophisticated thriller, nearly as bold and audacious as the novel, helped, no doubt, by the fact that Winslow co-wrote the script with Shane Salerno and Stone. Savages is more Natural Born Killers than U-Turn. Violent scenes are cringe worthy and, while intellectually we know this is fake, I closed my eyes several times. In Stone's version, Savages' violence is more graphic than necessary.

Stone keeps the multi-layered characters and their unconventional lifestyle as well as the unabashed sexuality, gallows humor and violence of Winslow's novel.īut Stone doesn't know when to stop. Savages benefits greatly from Oliver Stone's gonzo, unrestrained direction and, at the same time, it suffers from Oliver Stone's gonzo, unrestrained direction. And while the transition to the big screen is not completely smooth, the movie version of Savages retains the spirit of the novel. Savages' storyline seemed tailor-made for the movies. Winslow's 13th novel, which put him on myriad best of the year lists, was written in an unconventional style with one-word chapters and sentences running vertically down the page the opening chapter was just two words, one of which was 'you.'

Don Winslow's 2010 novel Savages was a bold, audacious story showcasing the author's skill at creating fringe characters who seem perfectly normal, extreme action - both over the top and yet restrained- and tight as a drum dialogue.Īnd Savages could not have been more timely as it vividly showed the connection between the Southern California drug culture and the Mexican cartels, which continues to be in the news.

Savages don winslow review