El río de la ira

"If that wasn't god pushing me to do his business I don't know what was"

Savage Salvation is directed by Randall Emmett and stars Jack Huston, Willa Fitzgerald, Robert De Niro and John Malkovich.

The latest geezer teaser arrives, directed by the king of the geezer teasers himself Randall Emmett. Have you ever seen a low quality movie in the clearance section of your local Target etc with a big name attached? Like Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Robert De Niro and John Travolta for example. Chances are this Randall Emmett guy is a producer on it. Everyone should know the process on how these movies get made. You attach an aging older male action star like listed above, then you cast a B list younger male actor as the true lead of the movie. And then fill out the rest of the cast usually with a bunch of D list actors no one has ever heard of before. It's provided early retirement and a nice paycheck for most of these aging stars and Savage Salvation is no different.

So if you couldn't tell by now Savage Salvation is not a good movie. The best part of this movie is easily Jack Huston and the best parts of this movie are when he's involved in a Vigilante Justice killing spree. Besides that there's not much else here to recommend. The story is very weak and not very compelling. The movie tries to craft a message on drug use I guess? However it wasn't done well at all. Robert De Niro and John Malkovich are obviously just here for a paycheck. (Thank god De Niro has Killers Of The Flower Moon on the horizon) But yeah besides Jack Huston nothing about this movie is good.

Once you've seen one of these geezer teaser movies you've really seen them all. In general Savage Salvation is a mess that doesn't know what it wants to be. A faith pandering movie, a message about drug use and a vigilante action thriller are all thrown in the blender here with incredibly weak results.

IN A NUTSHELL: Sheriff Church (Robert De Niro) and Detective Zeppelin strive to keep the peace in their rough town, where residents' only two interests are the church or oxycodone. Newly engaged Shelby John (Jack Huston) and Ruby Red want a fresh start. They decide to have a family together and get clean, with the support of Peter, Ruby's brother-in-law (John Malkovich). However, Shelby discovers his beloved Ruby dead on their porch before she could fulfill her final wish: to be baptized in the river and washed away from her past sins. Filled with fiery rage, Shelby embarks on a vengeful killing spree to right all the wrong done to Ruby by every link in the drug dealing chain. Armed with nothing but adrenaline and a nail gun, Shelby picks off dealers and junkies one by one until he gets to the top. Sheriff Church and Detective Zeppelin must race against the clock to put an end to Shelby's vigilante justice before his fight with the crime lord Coyote (Quavo) turns the entire town into a bloodbath.

If you enjoy vigilante justice movies, you'll like this one. The problem with them is that you usually feel like you've been swimming in the gutter for 1 ½ hours after you finish watching them.

The movie was directed by Randall Emmett. The screenplay was written by Adam Taylor Barker and Chris Sivertson.

THINGS I LIKED: Who doesn't love Robert DeNiro? His face on the poster definitely caught my eye. He and John Malkovich both do a good job, but their talents are mostly wasted in this predictable movie.

The movie also features the awesome Dale Dickey. If you want to see her fantastic performance in a leading role, watch A Love Song.

Jack Huston also does a good job in his very dramatic role as the boyfriend who tries to hunt down the drug dealers whose products killed his girlfriend.

I really liked the soundtrack and musical choices.

There's a sense of satisfaction as you get to see scumbag drug dealers get what's coming to them.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Some characters speak in such low, garbled voices that it's hard to understand what everyone says. Sadly, I could almost never understand what Robert DeNiro said.

Acts 1 and 2 are very slow-moving while we watch people do drugs and get super sick. Hopefully, this movie will be an effective cautionary tale for people who are considering drugs by getting a realistic look at the awful consequences.

There are some very contrived, hokey moments.

Some of the characters seem more like exaggerated cartoon characters.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: Tons of profanity and F-bombs Blood and gore Violence with multiple weapons High dead-body count with brutal deaths Cigarettes We see drug paraphernalia We see people shoot up drugs in their arm We see someone throw up.

We see a young woman in just her underwear We see a couple go at it (clothed) in a public park.

We see dead bodies.

!

First of all you see the names of De Niro and Malkovich top lining the one sheet and you think to yourself, 'How bad can this be?' Unfortunately I didn't see that Randall Emmett was directing. Just like his deal with Bruce Willis' last few films, it's just another form of exploitation. Jack Huston really deserves better (see Boardwalk Empire), Bob and John probably needed the paycheck, but after reading the script, they should've known better. The script spent the first half of the film portraying the challenges of addicts in love before turning itself into the righteous revenge killing trope of every 80's action hero film. I almost gave up after the first 40 minutes because nothing happened, I stuck around out of morbid curiosity. Throw in few God missives (because we are in the south after all), the usual dispatching of greasy baddies without the panache of John Wick, and end with speech of God meeting capitalism face to face. I met Randy at Cannes back in 2001, he was asleep in his limo with his mouth open as I walked up to a mid day meeting. Unfortunately, I think he's still sleeping. On the good side was the cinematography but the edit was over long and repetitive. So for those who have lasted this long in the review, it's definitely a slog and not worth the bother. Wendy.

This film had so much potential - interesting plot with lots to explore and expand on, amazing cast, good cinematography........ Let down by over the top and rushed action scenes and not enough detail and explanation to make it more than just ordinary.

With this calibre of actors and the basic idea and setting this has the potential to be so much more powerful and riveting.

There are elements that remind me of films such as 'Out of the Furnace' and 'No country for Old Men' but I feel these succeed through taking their time to detail the characters and provide an overview of where they're from and where they're going which means we are more invested in them and the story.. Apologies for not being more positive but this is a genre fav and I wa hoping for so-much more !

Not any good? Some terrific actors are starring in this flop. Those actors are the only positive I can think of. I mean who can resist watching a movie with Robert de Niro and John Malkovich? They both only have got small supporting roles though for just some 15 minutes. Bummer.

The bad: this Randal Emmett guy, who has been a producer of LOTS OF pretty lousy B-movies in the past, now turned to directing a movie for only the second time and what a disaster of a movie he has made!

Everything is wrong with this movie, technically speaking. The photography is bland, the music score is incredibly annoying and totally not suited, the editing is all wrong.

But the biggest fail is the direction by Randall Emmett, who just doesnt know the first thing about how to dose and mix the right amount of ingredients.

Completely disjointed. Overly sentimental. Lots of chewed out cliches. Tedious from start till finish. What a mess of a movie...