Review by by Char Hardin
Director: Oliver Stone
Writers: Shane Salerno (screenplay), DonWinslow (screenplay/novel) and Oliver Stone (screenplay)
Stars: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Taylor Kitsch, and Blake Lively

Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and Ben (Aaron Taylor-Johnson)
Ben (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch) best friends and partners in a million dollar industry...they grow and produce weed. Not just any weed...PREMO weed. Chon a former Navy Seal, while on tour of duty in Afghanistan finds a source of marijuana seeds and smuggles them back to the states. Hands them over to a botany/business major that turns them into profit. Living a charmed posh life in Laguna Beach, California the two men not only shares a business, they share a lover...O short for Ophelia (Blake Lively).
Ben returns home from a trip, to find a worried Chon and horny O. Pleasure first with an erotic tryst in the bathtub with Ben and O. O is the narrator of the story and as she is being made love to by Ben, she is telling the viewer the differences in her men: Ben makes love and Chon fks her. After the lovers are spent, Ben grabs beers and meets Chon on the balcony overlooking the beach waterfront.

Lado (Benicio Del Toro
Chon tells Ben of a meeting with Mexican Baja Cartel that has been arranged to discuss a possible partnership. Ben the mellow of the two proposes to Chon that they just sell and get out all together. Chon is not in agreement. He doesn't want to stop producing and selling dope. Ben wants to take their money and O and go to Indonesia and live out their lives in peace, Chon is not of like mind.
They go to the meeting with the Cartel. Ben makes the same offer and Chon offends the Cartel representatives and the head of the Cartel Elena (Salma Hayek) is not amused. The Cartel gives them 24 hours to think the offer over. Ben and Chon have other plans and that includes selling out and disappearing. One small problem, the Cartel knows their plans and throw a monkey wrench into their plan...they kidnap Ophelia and have terms of their own. The Cartel believes they have the men over a barrel, but they underestimated the power of friendship and love.

Ophelia (Blake Lively)
What happens next is pure Oliver Stone, baby! Crosses and double crosses and deceptions. Characters cannot trust no one and the viewer is pulled into a drug war and recovery mission to get Ophelia back...alive. As I mentioned above the story is told from Ophelia's point of view. In the beginning we see her walking on a beach in black and white and talking as if this is found footage...like she could be dead. She backs up to the beginning and shows us the story.
Wheeling and dealing, foul language, sadistic torture, lots of dope, sex and an ending I didn't see coming. I really liked the movie and would recommend it to thriller fans. For those of you that look for continuity what's up with the disappearing and reappearing of the head rests in the guys' vehicle? How many STATE TROOPERS are in California?
Lado (Benicio Del Toro) is one sick bastard. He is has plans that deviate from his boss Elena (Salma Hayek) and his methods are cruel and the cleanup is little comical.

Elena (Salma Hayek) and Ophelia (Blake Lively)
Elena inherited the business of the Baja Cartel from her husband. This is not some feeble bimbo, she is cold, harsh and yet she has moments, where her façade shows cracks and a mother's heart. Her own children have nothing to do with her. She is seen trying to convince her daughter to return to her or to show her some attention, something her daughter is trying to block at all costs. Elena has Ophelia moved from where Lado is keeping her to the mansion to stay with Elena.

Agent Dennis (John Travolta) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch)
Dennis (John Travolta) is a DEA agent who does favors for Ben and Chon. Dennis is the father of two daughters and husband to a wife who is dying. He not only does favors for Ben and Chon...he has other interest that lie elsewhere and to you can be sure he is in the mix of all the chaos that goes down in the kidnapping of Ophelia.
Great cast, good story and killer twisted ending, rent it or buy it...either way you will get a good movie. 3.5 Out of 5.

For more from Char visit her website www.CharHardin.com