Blake Lively is the best part of the ‘Savages’ trailer? That can’t be right.

I feel like I’ve been hearing about Oliver Stone’s new film, Savages, for so long. It’s got a lot of hype, and it’s got a supporting performance by tabloid darling Blake Lively, so that gives the film a little extra media buzz. The basic plot line is: Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson play California drug dealers who run their operation smoothly, professionally, and with little violence. Their shared girlfriend is played by Blake Lively, in what seems like a T&A-heavy role. A Mexican cartel comes in and wants to join up with the California boys – I spy Oscar-nominated actor Demian Bichir in a small role as part of the Mexican cartel. Then Benicio del Toro is around… he’s like the cartel’s enforcer, I think. And Salma Hayek runs the cartel? And Salma’s wig is terrible. John Travolta is in there too, as DEA or FBI (I can’t tell). Anyway, the cartel kidnaps Blake Lively and chaos ensues.

Are they really going with the “Love Gets Savage” tagline? Because that just makes me think of Dan Savage. Anyway… it looks good. I feel like it’s Oliver Stone’s version of a Quentin Tarantino and/or Robert Rodriguez film – Oliver Stone is even borrowing some of Tarantino and Rodriguez’s favorite actors! This also feels like the film Traffic was going to be before it got all moral, right? No disrespect to Traffic – love some Don Cheadle. And that’s the film that got Del Toro his Oscar.

As for Blake Lively and her performance… I can’t tell. She’s not blowing me away in the trailer, but really – no one is. I’ll probably see this in the theater, but it’s not one of the summer films that I just can’t wait for (like Prometheus!). If you want me to judge Blake just from the trailer, I’d say that she’s probably going to be underwhelming, like always. That voiceover sounds particularly bored, and she seems to do an awful lot of mouth-breathing.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

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54 Responses to “Blake Lively is the best part of the ‘Savages’ trailer? That can’t be right.”

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  1. Mrs.Darcy says:

    Am I seeing things or did they flash her boobs twice in the trailer?! (Or am I just knowing they are in the movie so thinking I’m seeing them) – let’s be honest it’s 99% of her casting. To me that doesn’t bode well. It looks pretty sub-par and agree her monotone is irking me already.

    • T.C. says:

      According to book reviews, there should be lots of nudity and a double-penetration sex scene between Lively, Johnson and Kitsch. I’m thinking Blake was hired for the T&A not her dramatic acting skills. That voice over is HORRIBLE.

      Salma Hayek, Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson aren’t coming off good from the trailer either. Poor Bichir, Oscar nominated but reduced to playing the usual Mexican drug dealer.

      • merc says:

        According to those who have been to test screenings, she has no nude scenes (much to their disappointment).

        I agree about Bichir, and I won’t be surprised if the film takes some heat for stereotyping based on that trailer.

        None of the characters are supposed to be warm and loveable, however. I enjoyed the book, but that might be a point of contention for some.

  2. Katherine says:

    Salma Hayek is a terrible actor. This seems no different.

    Lively is capable of turning in good performances and I’m not sure why she attracts such negative personal comments especially from women.

    Stone can be brilliant at times but this looks not so brilliant.

    • Mook123 says:

      I think you have it backwards.

      Blake Lively is a terrible actor. This seems no different.

      Salma is capable of turning in good performances and I’m not sure why she attracts such negative personal comments, especially from women.

      Stone IS brilliant and this looks decent.

      • Ann says:

        Salma is a hottie but she has no business being in acting. She simply has no talent.

    • T.C. says:

      Salma Hayek is a good actress who comes through most of the time, Blake Lively is not. It’s not ONLY women that complain about Lively’s poor acting. Go to a website with mostly male commentators and you will hear the same compliant. They might think she is hot but they also think she can’t act her way out of a paper bag. Problem is there are actresses who look just as pretty as Blake Lively but can actually act. So everyone (male and female) get upset when she keeps getting jobs over those others. Her voice is flat and monotone, having her as the voice-over for this movie was a bad idea. Not sure what Stone was thinking here.

    • WillyNilly says:

      I don’t find Lively a ‘terrible’ actress. I find her a one-note actress (she does the particular note decently, but simply cannot hit any complicated nuances of a character to save her life) who happens to be incredibly attractive. Lucky for her, there is a niche for her now that Megan Fox has been blacklisted from ‘mouth breathing sex toy stunt double’.

    • merc says:

      I think Salma is a good actor, but I agree with you about Blake. I haven’t seen her in enough substantial roles to have a complete opinion on her, but I like what I’ve seen of her work that wasn’t Green Lantern (which was hardly an actors showcase; I couldn’t make it through more than a few minutes).

  3. David says:

    Looks like a good summer movie

  4. helvetica says:

    She’s plain monotone AGAIN !

    And Lainey said that she supposed to be amazing at third act. What’s in third act?
    Scene where she seduced married man ? Ha,just kidding.

    Taylor Kitsch looks great though.

  5. Riana says:

    …any trailer where the opening music sounds like the beginning of, “Thriller” can not end well.

    • WillyNilly says:

      I totally thought it was going to open up to the interior of a disco. I was so confused.

  6. Riana says:

    …what did I just watch?

    *So Blake’s in a movie where the focus is on her body/sex, speaks in a monotone, and invariably does nothing?

    Marvelous.

  7. Abs says:

    It looks great. Love Blake so much.

  8. Jade says:

    I hate when people call an actor the “worst” or says that they can’t act. If you find the right project even the weakest actor can be amazing.
    Blake is a serviceable actress. Her roles are usually ensemble because it works to her strengths. This is the same thing for Channing Tatum and Mark whalberg. I’m sure she’ll get tons of praise for being “ok” bc the media has set the bar so low.

  9. X says:

    Great cast, terrible dialogue, wack late eighties style action sequences. I’ll wait for it to come out on netflix.

  10. Kaye says:

    I know I’m in the minority, but I liked her performance in The Town.

    • Rux says:

      Me Too! I have nothing against Blake and I think she could pull a decent performance given the chance. This movie looks good. Taylor looks good. Travolta?! Again….ugh so over it.

    • D says:

      I seem to remember her performance in the town being pretty widely praised, at least by critics who didn’t go into it hating her. I think she’s a solid actress when she’s well directed.

    • merc says:

      I thought she was miscast. She was too young and healthy looking for me to buy her as a drug addict alcoholic from the projects who had a child with Ben Affleck’s character. But I thought her performance was fine, and she did receive good critical notices.

  11. serena says:

    Salma Hayek in a Katy Perry wig…totally awful!

  12. marie says:

    Other than being jealous of her legs, I have nothing against the girl BUT I’m not a huge Oliver Stone fan so I’ll probably wait till DVD release to see it

  13. Franny says:

    I’m a big Blake fan. I think her body is banging, I love her hair, and enjoy seeing what she wears. Plus I just want to see what her purse and shoe collection looks like because I know its out of this world amazing.

    That being said, I was watching Gossip Girl (kind of..it was on in the background) and I think that her weight loss has definetely aged her. I know see why people don’t believe her age…which is weird because we’re the same age!

  14. Geena says:

    She seems like a kept girl (not even women) in this role. When Taylor Kitsch’s character asks to get “their girl” back. It’s a twisted triangle? And that’s supposed to be the draw? Also, this is the second time she plays someone that has drug issues and more “love scenes.”

    I don’t know yet. Apparently, Taylor Kitsch explains that they filmed an INTENSE love scene and it was so explicit he doesn’t know how Oliver Stone will keep it in the movie!

    ww.wetpaint.com/gossip-girl/articles/taylor-kitsch-talks-about-being-in-love-with-blake-lively-in-savages

    • sassenach says:

      I read the book and there is a DP threesome in it.

    • T.C. says:

      Geena, he says “get their girl” because she is in an open relationship with both of them. So she is both their girlfriend and they are happy to share her. There is also supposed to be a double-penetration sex scene between all three of them that is what Taylor Kitsch is talking about not knowing how it will show up in the movie. But you can bet it WILL show up. It seems like a sex and violence orgy pretty much.

  15. Marissa. says:

    Sigh. Another monotonous Blake Lively movie where she chooses to play the role of a whore. Surprise, surprise. I agree with what most of you had to say about how exactly she got the role. All she probably had to do was waltz right into casting with a V-neck shirt and a skirt. Smh, definitely NOT watching this.

    • Liv says:

      Yeah, her body gets her all the roles. Why playing the character of The Town again? Always young and seductive girls…

  16. Jackie says:

    i am an oliver stone fan, but this just looks like a rehashing of what has been done before. salma even has michelle pfeiffer’s hair cut from scarface.

  17. deb says:

    the tag line reminds me of Lily Savage! It was great until that tagline happened!

    And Salma looks so much like Demi Moore.
    WHATS HAPPENEEEEEDDD?

  18. Chellez says:

    psh, forget blake. MORE Aaron Johnson PLEASE! Of all the young actors, this guy is so sexy, so under the radar and so weird. Love him.

    • Riana says:

      SERIOUSLY. I knew nothing about this film and just about died when I saw his face in the trailers. Goodness, he is FINE.

      He also seems to be quite an amazing actor.

    • merc says:

      Agreed. Aaron is beautiful and a wonderful young actor. I expect he will steal many scenes in this movie.

  19. sukienow says:

    two of lainey pr client(blake and taylor) in the same movie, she would ride hard for this movie on her blog lol

    • T.C. says:

      Lol. Truth. Lainey will have Blake Lively and Taylor Kitsch as soon to be Oscar nominees.

    • merc says:

      Lainey’s rare compliments for Blake are usually of the backhanded variety. You can tell it pains her to say anything nice. If she was on Lively’s payroll, you would see her get the kind of positive coverage reserved for Gosling, Kitsch, and a few others. Lainey talks about Blake because people love to hate on her and she generates hits for Lainey’s site.

      • normades says:

        I agree with merc. For every “she’s got game” and “how did she do it???” comment, Lainey dogs her acting talent and famehoish ways. Same for Gosling who she’s always calling a try-hard.

      • merc says:

        But “She’s got game” and “How does she do it?” are exactly the kind of backhanded compliments I was referring to. They’re not flattering.

        I haven’t seen her refer to Gosling as a “try hard” recently. On the contrary, she’s been actively dispelling negative stories about he and Eva with “exclusive” information and photos from Thailand. No mention of who her source is or how Vancouver based paps got those pics, much less any reference to “famehoing.”

  20. Gene Parmesan says:

    Blake’s voice sounds soooo off..soo bored..so not starry. Im underwhelmed
    Anyways Aaron Johnson looks far older than he is, i suppose that could be a result of being with a woman who is over 2 decades older than him.
    Glad to see Taylor K, he did not deserve John C bombing

  21. D says:

    Idk, I think this looks awesome as far as summer movies go. And I think Blake lively and her bored out of her mind VoiceOver are pretty damn perfect for a movie where she plays a southern California boho pot princess.

    • merc says:

      Exactly. That is the character as written. She’s not supposed to be “starry” or bubbly.

  22. mimi says:

    Poster ripoff!

    http://movieposters.2038.net/p/Babel_7.jpg

    I’m sure other movies have used this format too, but this just sprang to mind. Babel is probably a much better movie than this is going to be.

  23. Diana says:

    She sounds bored on the voice over. The film seems the typical Oliver Stone movie in terms of the look of it. I didn’t hate it nor did I love it. I gess I’ll have to wait and see.

  24. caityyy says:

    I like it better the first time when it was called Blow.

  25. Christina says:

    They casted Jennifer Lawrence as O originally but she dropped out for the Hunger Games – Blake Lively was then casted.
    Not much expectation from me tbh – looks like the male leads will carry the film.

  26. Lolaluvsu2 says:

    Ok, the real story is Tavolta’s face. Is that a mask? What the hell happened?

  27. Folasade says:

    Am I the only one who thought that looks like an awful movie? And Blake should not be doing the voice over.

  28. Nina says:

    I have a little crush on Taylor Kitsch lately… He’s so gorgeous.

    • LilyB says:

      I agree and I think he is smart too.

      “So, wait, Lively is both Kitsch and Johnson’s girlfriend? That’s… unusual.

      “Right, yeah, to say the least,” says Kitsch with a laugh. “But I think it works. These guys want her back for different reasons, but at the end of the day, it’s truly just that they do love her in their own kind of f—ed up way. I think for Chon, my character, he’s just so guarded and so jaded that this free spirit kind of just takes down a wall or two and accepts him for that.”

  29. Bek says:

    I thought the trailer looked really good and I’m looking forward to seeing it in a theatre.

  30. kris says:

    Holy Hell. This movie looks beyond stupid. I love Benicio, Selma, JT, and Kitsch, but words can’t describe how bad this looks. And Blake Lively???? In the lead role of an Oliver Stone film? Oh Oliver, how far you have fallen..