Savages(2012)

Universal Pictures

R
2h 11m

Release Date: Jul 6, 2012 | Wide

50%
54%
C+
6.4

Pot growers Ben and Chon face off against the Mexican drug cartel who kidnapped their shared girlfriend.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | Jul 6, 2012

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Box Office Results

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$16,016,910
Total US & Canada:
$47,382,068
Total International
$35,584,084
Total Worldwide:
$82,966,152

Current Showtimes

Your Location or

(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Oliver Stone
Director

Emilio Buale
Omar

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: SDDS,Datasat,Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English,Spanish

Summaries

Plot Summary

Best friends Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and Ben (Aaron Johnson) are marijuana growers living in Laguna Beach, California. Chon, a former Navy SEAL, smuggled the seeds for the plants out of Afghanistan. These seeds yielded a particularly potent strain of marijuana that soon developed a wide customer base and made Chon and Ben very wealthy. The two are in a poly-amorous relationship with O (Blake Lively) as a girlfriend.While Ben is doing charity work overseas, Chon and O receive a video from cartel enforcer Lado (Benicio Del Toro), a man they do not know. The video shows several severed heads and a chainsaw, leading them to worry about Ben, who they fear is one of the victims. However, Ben returns safely the next day, and Chon and Ben go to meet with the Mexican cartel. The cartel wants access to their business & offers to industrialize production in exchange for a 20% fee. Both Ben & Chon don't want to get involved with cartels. After refusing the cartel's offer for a partnership, Chon and Ben make plans with O to leave and go to Indonesia for a year, not telling her that they are fleeing from the cartel. The cartel finds out their plans, but doesn't want them to leave as they cant grow the product without Ben & Chon's expertise.Chon and Ben speak to corrupt DEA agent Dennis (John Travolta) who urges them to partner with the cartel. O, meanwhile, is kidnapped by Lado and several members of the cartel. Chon and Ben are notified of O's kidnapping via a Skype call from cartel leader Elena (Salma Hayek), who threatens to harm O before again urging the two to partner with the cartel.Chon and Ben speak with Dennis about the situation. Dennis informs them that the cartel is led by Elena who has not weaknesses, husband & 2 sons dead & a dead daughter Magda. The conversation turns sour, with Chon stabbing Dennis in the hand and punching him in the face. Dennis understands that the guys are serious & gets them Elena's property information & business transactions in US. Ben & Chon make a deal with Elena to pay $ 15 MM upfront as cash for return of O. They don't have this money, but they figure each of Elena's property in Laguna to be filled with cash. They plan to rob them & get O back by paying Elena her own money. With help from Chon's Navy SEAL friends, the duo attacks one of Elena's cash laundering properties, killing seven of Elena's men. The duo decides to frame Alex (a high ranking member of the cartel) (Demián Bichir) for the murders. Alex was the one who had conducted the first meeting with Ben & Chon & had acted as the front for Elena. Alex is Elena's lawyer. With help from Dennis, they falsify the evidence and give it to Lado, who tortures the man before forcing Ben to immolate him. Before entering the meeting Ben sees El Alzul (Elena's business rival) leaving Lado's room. Lado was planning to ditch Elena in favor of Alzul when he came to power in Mexico.While being tortured, the man begs for his life "on Magda", revealing to Chon and Ben that Elena's daughter's Magda (who was rumored to be dead), is still alive & actually studying in Laguna beach.Elena decides to come to Laguna beach to meet Magda. O, during all of this, has been kept in horrible living conditions while not being allowed to speak to anyone. Elena, feeling sorry for her, allows her to contact her mother via email, so she can convince her mother that she is on a trip to Europe with her friends. While in captivity and after drugging her, Lado sexually assaults O while recording it. He later shows her the video of it, causing her to spit on him. Elena later brings O to her estate in Laguna so that she can have someone to talk to.Lado meanwhile meets Dennis. Turns out Dennis has been protecting Lado for years. Lado tells Dennis that he knows he supplied Ben & Chon with the information on Elena's properties in Laguna. Lado was Dennis's snitch inside Elena's organization. Lado was giving Dennis enough information to mess up Elena's operations to strategically benefit Alzul. Lado tells Dennis that Elena is in US & that O is with her. Dennis & Lado plan to extort the 3 MM$ Ben & Chon stole in exchange for information on Magda. Lado knew all along that Ben & Chon had stolen the money, but used the evidence to get rid of Alex & further weaken Elena.Meanwhile, Ben and Chon bribe Dennis for information on Magda (Sandra Echeverria), ultimately paying him $3 million for the information (stolen from Elena's property) and the name of his snitch in Elena's cartel. After kidnapping Magda, Ben and Chon Skype Elena once more, establishing that they are now in control. With Elena at their mercy, the two arrange a meeting, at which point both O and Magda will be released.The exchange is set to occur in the middle of the desert, with snipers from both sides prepared to fire. Elena requests to know the identity of the man who revealed the location of her daughter, and Chon reveals that it was Lado. Elena attempts to kill Lado, but he shoots her first. An intense firefight erupts, with Chon being shot several times. Lado is shot in the back by Ben, but manages to shoot Ben in the neck before being killed by O. With Ben mortally wounded, Chon injects him, himself, and O with a fatal overdose, so the three can die together.It is then revealed that this sequence is how O feared the events would transpire. In reality, Lado steals Elena's car and drives off as DEA agents arrive, led by Dennis. Lado had once again sold Elena out. With Elena in jail, Alzul will win the cartel wars. Everyone at the meeting is arrested & Elena goes to jail for 30 yrs, but since Ben possesses incriminating information on Dennis, Dennis names Ben and Chon as his informants for the past six years, leading to them being released from jail. Ben, Chon and O leave the country together and live "like savages" in Indonesia.

Storyline

In California, the former Navy SEAL Chon and his best friend, the peaceful botanist Ben, are successful entrepreneurs producing and dealing high-quality weed. Chon brought seeds from Afghanistan and Ben used his knowledge to develop the best marijuana in the country. Chon and Ben share the pothead lover Ophelia and she loves both of them since they complete each other - Chon is a powerful and strong lover and Ben is a sensible and loving lover. Their comfortable life changes when the Mexican Baja Cartel demands a partnership in their business. Chon and Ben refuse the deal and the leader of the cartel Elena sends her right-arm in America, Lado, to abduct Ophelia to press the American drug dealers. Chon and Ben ask the support of the dirty DEA Agent Dennis and get inside information to begin a secret war against the Baja Cartel to release Ophelia. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Laid-back Ben, and his best friend, Chon, a former Navy SEAL, may not seem like significant drug dealers, however, together they make a comfortable living selling top-quality, home-grown marijuana. The two business partners share more than just a profitable business: their mutual girlfriend, Ophelia. But, just when Ben and Chon thought that they were at the top of their game, the feared Mexican Baja cartel enters the picture, wanting a piece of the action, threatening their blissful life of lawless hedonism. Now, their cruel, pitiless, and hard-as-nails leader, Elena, will stop at nothing to get what she wants, and her top enforcer, Lado, is going to make sure that she gets it. Before long, things get nasty, forcing the desperate pot dealers to hesitantly enlist the help of the shady DEA agent, Dennis, to try and avert a tragedy. Can Ben and Chon take on the savages? — Nick Riganas Entrepreneurs Ben, a peaceful and charitable marijuana producer, and friend Chon, a former Navy SEAL, run a lucrative, homegrown industry - raising some of the best weed ever developed. They also share a one-of-a-kind love with Ophelia. Life is idyllic in their Southern California town... until the Mexican Baja Cartel decides to move in and demands that the trio partners with them. When the merciless head of the BC, Elena, and her enforcer, Lado, underestimate the unbreakable bond of the three friends, Ben and Chon - with the reluctant assistance of a dirty DEA agent - wage a seemingly unwinnable war against the cartel. And so begins a series of increasingly vicious ploys and maneuvers in a high stakes, savage battle of wills. — Universal