7) Savages (2012)
The Story: Ben (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch) are two pot growers living the dream in sunny California. They have wealth, power and a passionate, shared romance with O (Blake Lively), a beautiful pothead who loves both men equally. The trio are shocked out of their reverie when Mexican cartel leader Elena (Salma Hayek) demands to do business with them, then gets her right-hand man Lado (Benicio Del Toro) to kidnap O and put pressure on the pot-growers. Averse to forming a partnership, Ben and Chon recruit DEA Agent Dennis (John Travolta) to help them wage war against the cartel and rescue their girlfriend.
The Twist: To force Elena into releasing O, Ben and Chon kidnap her daughter and arrange a hostage exchange in the desert. When both parties arrive, Elena demands to know who revealed her daughter’s location to them, only to discover that Lado has betrayed her. A furious firefight erupts, and Ben is fatally wounded. Unwilling to live without one-third of their love triangle, Chon and O intentionally overdose right then and there. Then comes the twist. A voice-over from O tells us that what we just saw was just in her head, some nihilistic daydream. None of it actually happened. Instead of the bloody shoot-out, Elena is quickly apprehended by the DEA and sentenced to 30 years, Ben and Chon are saved from any legal troubles by their buddy Dennis, and the trio jet off to some island paradise to “live like savages,” which equates to making passionate love and getting really high for the rest of their lives.
Why It Sucks: By presenting us with one uncompromisingly bleak ending then pulling a switcheroo and presenting the big, Hollywood happy ending as “what actually happened,” director Oliver Stone effectively takes a sledgehammer to the gritty, realistic feel that he has carefully maintained throughout the rest of the film. It’s a jarring tonal shift, and also a total cop-out, considering the Don Winslow novel the film is based upon ended with all three dying in the shoot-out. The original ending allowed the film to make a profound point about love conquering all, and also more effectually wrapped up several character arcs. For example, Lado, who raped O during her imprisonment, is killed in the shoot-out by O, while in the “real” version of events, he gets off scot-free. O’s “real” ending rings false partially because none of the characters deserve it, but also because it totally nullifies the dark, pulpy vibe of the rest of the film. Instead of ending the film with a bang, Stone chose to send the characters happily off into the sunset and closed out Savages with a decidedly pathetic whimper.
