Dear Reader: Update, Movie Review Intelligence will
continue publishing this website through June (more...)
Search a Movie:
SAVAGES (2012)Movie Reviews
Thriller about three friends who fight back against the Mexican drug cartel that disrupts their idyllic lives and wants to take over their California pot-growing business. Cast:Taylor Kitsch, Benicio Del Toro, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, Salma Hayek, John Travolta, Emile Hirsch, Uma Thurman, Demian Bichir, Gonzalo MenendezDirector:Oliver StoneRelease Date:July 6, 2012DVD Release:October 23, 2012From:UniversalRating:RLength:2 hr 7 min
Savages (2012) played to good reviews. Reviews were mixed. • Joe Williams wrote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Stone has walked the walk, so the horror is never just an apocalyptic pose.... Stone's most successfully provocative picture since 'JFK.' " • And Claudia Puig wrote in USA Today, "While it aims for provocative and dynamic, it comes off as predictable and strained." More Reviews Below...
Alynda Wheat, People: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...mellow pot-growers battling a Mexican cartel's hostile takeover gets the Oliver Stone treatment, with gory violence punctuating the boring stretches."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 105 words, 07/05/12
Richard Corliss, Time: GOOD "...if you don't like the plot or the performances, just watch the damn movie... It isn't great cinema, but it's a very alive movie about people who probably ought to be dead."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,241 words, 07/06/12
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: VERY GOOD(cg) "...darkly funny and stylishly violent.... Stone draws strong performances from his eclectic ensemble cast.... an enjoyably gratuitous romp, but with something to say."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 754 words, 07/05/12
Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly: OUTSTANDING(cg) "The tension in this thriller builds and never lets up.... the savages plot, rant and kill... open your eyes during the climactic standoff. It's epic."(See all of Mara Reinstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 126 words, 07/05/12
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: EXCELLENT(cg) "...grandiose underworld pulp staged with screw-tightening skill and a taste for nasty kicks that spills over into sadism and dread. It's like a jacked-up 'Miami Vice...' "(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 515 words, 07/06/12
Claudia Puig, USA Today: MODERATE(cg) "...has a bloated and familiar plot and is plagued by tonal inconsistencies... While it aims for provocative and dynamic, it comes off as predictable and strained."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 469 words, 07/06/12
Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...generates ruthless energy and some, but not too much, humor.... It's spellbinding to watch the two sides trying to outthink each other."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 778 words, 07/06/12
Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: WEAK(cg) "...a needlessly digressive, self-second-guessing, stop-and-start half slog... Stone slathers on the operatic sensibility for drawn-out killing and torture scenes..."(See all of Glenn Kenny's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 747 words, 07/05/12
James Berardinelli, Reel Views: VERY GOOD(cg) "...doesn't break much new ground in the genre but offers a volatile concoction of violence, heroism, and amorality that is compulsively watchable."(See all of James Berardinelli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 761 words, 07/04/12
we have an app for when you're out and about
get our iPhone app... or get our mobile web app...
movie review intelligence
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (13 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD "...a feverish, fully baked, half-great adaptation of Don Winslow's ferocious and funny drug-war novel of the same name... keeps you engaged..."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,167 words, 07/06/12
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: EXCELLENT(cg) "...everyone pays for whatever mellowness they sought or sold.... the orangey colors that start the film end up looking like a Dreamsicle that's become a nightmare."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 427 words, 07/06/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...has a lot going for it, including a pip of a story, a propulsive narrative drive and the über-cool blacker-than-night attitude and language of author Winslow... But..."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 813 words, 07/06/12
Kyle Smith, New York Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "...despite its excesses, it is never unintentionally funny, just gritty and mean. The run time is more than two hours, yet it's also tight: no drag, no waste, no message."(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 636 words, 07/06/12
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: MODERATE(cg) "...a silly and self-serious movie... has trouble making us care what happens to the beautiful people -- the untouchables -- at the center of the sun-baked fairy tale."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 532 words, 07/06/12
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: EXCELLENT "...wry but mournful, the savagery never a kick. The senselessness of the carnage gets to you. You think, It doesn't have to be this way.... It's business."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 597 words, 07/09/12
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...generates ruthless energy and some, but not too much, humor.... It's spellbinding to watch the two sides trying to outthink each other."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 778 words, 07/06/12
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: FAIR "More than two hours long -- and building to two endings, one romantic-tragic and one quasi-ironic and romantic-ludicrous... bloated with plot and exposition..."(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 675 words, 07/04/12
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: MODERATE(cg) "...the gringo actors think they're making a romantic drama. The Latinos know it's really a comedy, albeit a brutal one. This makes for strange viewing."(See all of Peter Howell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 767 words, 07/06/12
Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE(cg) "...calculated, cutesy, free of suspense and trashy only in the uninteresting sense.... feels more like flexing atrophied muscles rather than creating a believable experience."(See all of Liam Lacey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 734 words, 07/06/12
Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The characters, the violence, the kinetic energy - they're all over the top. But Stone likes it that way. He's crazy about rhapsodic emotion and revels in the bloodshed..."(See all of Susan G. Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 277 words, 07/05/12
KEY CITIES (13 Reviews)
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "A candy-colored black valentine to titillation, garish brutality and groovy post-fin-de-siecle excess... a B-movie striving for an A-plus..."(See all of Ann Hornaday's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 598 words, 07/06/12
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: MODERATE(cg) "There's a fine line between pulp and pretense with Oliver Stone.... Subtlety has no place in this world, this movie."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 480 words, 07/06/12
Christopher Kelly, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...tightly wound and vastly entertaining... Stone gets back to what he does best, mixing brash showmanship with gleeful provocation."(See all of Christopher Kelly's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 840 words, 07/06/12
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT(cg) "...not showing off with his message as much as with his technique, perhaps, but in 'Savages,' Stone still gets his point across in stylish, provocative fashion."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 715 words, 07/06/12
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: VERY GOOD(cg) "Despite his concerted efforts to sabotage it in the last five minutes, 'Savages' is Oliver Stone's strongest work in years... stylish, violent, hallucinatory..."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 796 words, 07/06/12
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: MODERATE(cg) "The occasionally sharp tone of Don Winslow's original novel has been lost, and the film's ending isn't much more than a joke."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 514 words, 07/06/12
Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: POOR(cg) "People get shot. Cash gets stolen. Benicio del Toro, playing a b-b-bad-to-the-bone Mexican killer, glowers in close-up. So. What part of this is boring? All of it."(See all of Amy Biancolli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 376 words, 07/06/12
Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: MODERATE(cg) "...rudderless, halfhearted.... In a jarring twist, Stone presents alternative endings... It's a tactic meant to be clever but leaves a bitter taste."(See all of Tom Keogh's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 303 words, 07/06/12
Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: VERY GOOD(cg) "...briskly navigates the Elmore Leonard-style twists of the story... Stone transmits his hedonistic pleasure directly to the audience. It's nice to have that Oliver Stone back."(See all of Shawn Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 221 words, 07/06/12
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Stone has walked the walk, so the horror is never just an apocalyptic pose.... Stone's most successfully provocative picture since 'JFK.' "(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 431 words, 07/06/12
Steve Persall, Tampa Bay Times: POOR(cg) "...isn't entertaining, unless beheadings, gaping bullet wounds and eyeball-ripping torture by bullwhip -- scored with portentous classical music -- is your cup of tea."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 439 words, 07/05/12
Tom Long, Detroit News: GOOD(cg) "In the end it seems to revel in its own repulsion.... It's ugly truth in abundance without consequences, and the result feels a bit hollow."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 289 words, 07/06/12
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: POOR(cg) "Aggressively, defiantly stupid.... 'Savages' talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk: For the first time in his hallowed career, Stone comes off as a poseur."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 933 words, 07/06/12
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (9 Reviews)
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: FAIR "More than two hours long -- and building to two endings, one romantic-tragic and one quasi-ironic and romantic-ludicrous... bloated with plot and exposition..."(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 675 words, 07/04/12
Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend: POOR(cg) "...overlong, filled with empty characters and bad performances, and an ending that may actually lead audiences to throw things at the screen.... an absolute mess..."(See all of Eric Eisenberg's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 774 words, 07/05/12
Alison Willmore, AV Club: GOOD(cg) "...a bright, messy smear of a movie... one that's violent, sultry, and entertainingly sleazy while falling short of the satirical edge the material necessitates."(See all of Alison Willmore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 407 words, 07/05/12
Chris Barsanti, Pop Matters: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...everybody does the best they can with some of the year's worst dialogue.... It's Stone's most entertaining and surprising movie in years."(See all of Chris Barsanti's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 911 words, 07/06/12
Jesse Cataldo, Slant: WEAK(cg) "...hampered by the inconsistent tone: 'Savages' never feels rooted in reality, but it never departs far enough from it to accommodate its cartoonish raw materials."(See all of Jesse Cataldo's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 652 words, 07/05/12
Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The characters, the violence, the kinetic energy - they're all over the top. But Stone likes it that way. He's crazy about rhapsodic emotion and revels in the bloodshed..."(See all of Susan G. Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 277 words, 07/05/12
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: WEAK(cg) "Ultraviolent, ultra-stylish.... finds its footing as a compelling crime flick, but Stone pulls too many punches for the film to be a real head-rush."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 650 words, 07/06/12
HIGHBROW PRESS (6 Reviews)
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: EXCELLENT "...long, dense... takes surprising side trips into thoughtfulness, ruefulness, whimsy and romance. It's high-grade entertainment sustained by a buoyant spirit."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 776 words, 07/06/12
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD "...a feverish, fully baked, half-great adaptation of Don Winslow's ferocious and funny drug-war novel of the same name... keeps you engaged..."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,167 words, 07/06/12
Richard Brody, New Yorker: WEAK "...for all of its ostensible reflection of crises of the day, it feels utterly unnecessary; its fullness of action is strangely emptied out; it's a visually page-turning non-experience."(See all of Richard Brody's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 945 words, 07/06/12
Mark Jenkins, NPR: VERY GOOD "...flashy in the director's usual manner... But the playful way Stone flips the mood demonstrates a command of the material he hasn't shown in more than a decade."(See all of Mark Jenkins's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 580 words, 07/05/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...has a lot going for it, including a pip of a story, a propulsive narrative drive and the über-cool blacker-than-night attitude and language of author Winslow... But..."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 813 words, 07/06/12
Justin Chang, Daily Variety: VERY GOOD "Pungent, nasty and teeming with colorful crooked types, writer-director Oliver Stone's most vibrant (and violent) work in some time is a bracingly sordid saga..."(See all of Justin Chang's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 871 words, 06/28/12
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD "...represents at least a partial resurrection of Oliver Stone's more hallucinatory, violent, sexual and, in a word, savage side."(See all of Todd McCarthy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,247 words, 06/28/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...has a lot going for it, including a pip of a story, a propulsive narrative drive and the über-cool blacker-than-night attitude and language of author Winslow... But..."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 813 words, 07/06/12
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: EXCELLENT(cg) "...an ultra-violent crime thriller, laced with irony and darker than black humor, which makes the film more entertaining - and poignant."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 658 words, 07/03/12
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD "...a feverish, fully baked, half-great adaptation of Don Winslow's ferocious and funny drug-war novel of the same name... keeps you engaged..."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,167 words, 07/06/12
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: EXCELLENT "...long, dense... takes surprising side trips into thoughtfulness, ruefulness, whimsy and romance. It's high-grade entertainment sustained by a buoyant spirit."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 776 words, 07/06/12
23.2 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Savages (2012)'s reviews are separated by an average 23.2 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Savages (2012) (47 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Savages (2012)'s reviews cover 92.2% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 30,171 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 642 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 11.8 Hours Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Savages (2012)'s reviews on average broke 11.8 hours before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Savages (2012)'s opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Savages (2012) (47 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
Mobile Web App version 1.2 shows a list of all current movies and review information. You can click through to the cast, director, synopsis, release date and rating on page two, plus individual reviews on page three. The information is updated on a live/real-time basis. You can also search our database of films. Designed for when you're on the move and want the latest info, this app will work on any mobile web browser. From your mobile device -- only from a mobile device -- open our Mobile Web App here...
