Savages (2012)

All Critics (176) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (92) | Rotten (87) | DVD (3)

It all smacks of trying too hard to mask the absence of strong material.

September 18, 2012 Full Review

Tom Huddleston

Time Out

Top Critic

Stone devotes considerable ingenuity to making atrocity appear as a terrifying kind of home movie, but "Savages" is no more than a summertime debauch.

July 23, 2012 Full Review

David Denby

New Yorker

Top Critic

These are neither good people nor interesting savages, and they're not worth caring about. Neither is the movie.

July 12, 2012 Full Review | Comments (8)

Rex Reed

New York Observer

Top Critic

Savages points to a problem with gifted directors, which Stone is, like him or not: They can make a movie that aggravates, infuriates, falters even, but they can really make a movie.

July 6, 2012 Full Review | Comments (5)

Lisa Kennedy

Denver Post

Top Critic

Savages isn't about anything except flashily directed mayhem. In this nest of vipers, it's the slitheriest varieties that survive -- at least for a time.

July 6, 2012 Full Review | Comment (1)

Peter Rainer

Christian Science Monitor

Top Critic

The movie's great surprise, and delight, is Salma Hayek's Elena, a svelte monster with a Cleopatra haircut who runs the cartel.

July 6, 2012 Full Review | Comments (2)

Joe Morgenstern

Wall Street Journal

Top Critic

compelling action scenes with momentum-killing dialogue digressions

April 21, 2013 Full Review

Matt Kelemen

Las Vegas CityLife

Amid all the violence and profanity, Oliver Stone reveals a begrudging respect for his damned characters.

February 12, 2013 Full Review

Tim Grierson

Deadspin

Savages, however, finds a new low for this auteur. It's a trashy, repulsive little flick, so darned unwatchable that it's not even fun to rip the thing apart.

December 28, 2012 Full Review

Jason Gorber

Twitch

Well made and slickly made but amoral junk.

December 24, 2012

Michelle Alexandria

Eclipse Magazine

This is by no means Oliver Stone's best work. But it's his best work in well over a decade.

December 17, 2012 Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

Veers way off course in its second act, becoming confusing and vague - indeed, stoned. But it all comes good in the end.

December 4, 2012 Full Review

CJ Johnson

ABC Radio (Australia)

Oliver Stone's Savages is a recycled popcorn flick straight from the 90s. The performances help prove that point, aside from Benicio Del Toro's creepy, yet effective transformation as Lado.

November 19, 2012 Full Review

Matt Joseph

We Got This Covered

Oliver Stone returns to the grit, grime, and blood of his glory days with Savages, a breakneck SoCal-set thriller about the death of sensitivity in the modern age.

November 17, 2012 Full Review

Glenn Heath Jr.

Slant Magazine

An unsettling vision of America degenerating into a lawless dystopia like a latter-day Wild Wild West.

November 9, 2012 Full Review

Kam Williams

NewsBlaze

Essentially stupid, but stylistically invigorating, like watching a genius muck about with finger paints like a child on a sugar high. And then it throws it back in your face.

November 5, 2012

Rob Humanick

Projection Booth

This film goes about as deep and dark as a summer high. Sure there are flashes of mexploitation fun, but ultimately it's just way too mellow, man.

October 21, 2012 Full Review

Alice Tynan

The Vine

Savages reels you in but then doesn't finish the job.

October 21, 2012 Full Review

Matthew Toomey

ABC Radio Brisbane

Oliver Stone isn't known for making pretty films but ugly is something he does very well.

October 20, 2012 Full Review

Tim Martain

The Mercury

A good piece of gritty, grown-up entertainment. One question, though - has Oliver Stone lost his movie mojo?

October 19, 2012 Full Review

Jim Schembri

3AW

It's a dirty and messy firecracker of a film, but one that's directed with thrill and skill.

October 18, 2012 Full Review

Colin Fraser

FILMINK (Australia)

Its energy has long deflated before an ending that will try the patience of even the most forgiving viewers. There's little to defend once Stone and company have so eagerly adopted the cheap twists of a latter day Shyamalan picture.

October 18, 2012 Full Review

Glenn Dunks

Trespass

Savages is a hot mess - beautiful actors and locations mixed with a plot that starts strong but ultimately turns into a snooze-fest. With a lead villain seemingly ripped from the cover of Cosmo magazine, Stone's latest flick savagely disappoints.

October 18, 2012 Full Review

MovieFIX

The messy insouciance wears a little thin, and by the time we get to the absurdity of the extended ending, enough is definitely enough.

October 18, 2012 Full Review

Philippa Hawker

The Age (Australia)

I think it's really interesting that Oliver Stone has gone back to this visceral, mischievous, hard-hitting filmmaking.

October 18, 2012 Full Review

Margaret Pomeranz

At the Movies (Australia)

The three leads are a bit on the bland side but perhaps that's the way California potheads are. Del Toro and Travolta are terrific in their more interesting roles.

October 18, 2012 Full Review

David Stratton

At the Movies (Australia)

• 1. Chon: These people don't make deals; they're fucking Savages.
  – Submitted by Dan E (35 days ago)
• 1. Chon: I've seen worse and I'd do worse to them.
  – Submitted by Dan E (35 days ago)
• 1. Elena: If you wanna control somebody, take what they love.
  – Submitted by Antonio M (5 months ago)
• 1. O: If you wanna control somebody, take what they love.
  – Submitted by ScubaSteve Walter M (5 months ago)
• 1. Chon: Think of it like this, alright? You're already dead. You're dead from the moment you're born. If you can accept that, you can accept anything.
  – Submitted by ScubaSteve Walter M (5 months ago)
• 1. Lado: It's my money, my money.
  – Submitted by Ding Y (6 months ago)