Every Oliver Stone Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Moving into the current decade, we have Savages; an action thriller set in a modern context. The film is based on the novel by Don Winslow and the adaptation released very promptly, a mere two years after the book.

It all starts when two stoner friends Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and Ben (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) strike it rich through marijuana sales while doing their best to hide their illicit trade through charity work in Africa and Asia. However, they soon find themselves unwitting aides to a Mexican drug cartel and their personal situations start to get dicey.

The film has a large cast and this ultimately hurts its overall cohesiveness as the audience has to keep track of many factions and motivations as it once. Yet Savages still makes solid use of its darker tone to create a grotty drug war that runs rampant over everyone caught up in it.

Where Savages stands out the most is with the steps Oliver Stone takes outside of his typical historical adaptations. Rather than going for full authenticity, it instead aims for a more intense barrage of action sequences. Critical reception was split on the film's context and portrayal of the drug trade, but Savages still has a respectable portion of audiences who enjoyed it.