Salvador

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DanTheMan 2 Still soberingly relevant today, Salvador offers a gripping and brutally moving depiction of the turmoil in Central America, offset by pure anger as Oliver Stone unleashes a tirade against the US government and its foreign policy. It has a real drive and sense of attack in its willingness to tackle its subject matter with a head-on vividness. Stone's cynicism and candour regarding the sins and utter corruption of political journalism fuel the central thrust of this film. Stone presents some profoundly harrowing and unsettling visuals aided by his direction, the cinematography and Georges Delerue's haunting musical score. The battle sequences are tense and tightly edited, the dialogue is rippingly good, although somewhat disjointed at points and certainly drags its feet in delivering its gut punch of a message, you can forgive it due to the utterly tremendous central performance from James Woods, a tribute to his considerable dramatic skill that he manages to elicit sympathy for a uniquely obnoxious character. Salvador isn't a masterpiece, but it's a film of such ferocious power and intensity that it's impossible not to notice. I really need to check out more of Stone's filmography one of these days. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/28/25 Full Review Alec C Welcome to El Salvador, one of the most dangerous and war-torn countries in the world! A boozy reporter decides to do some freelance work in the middle of a civil war, but soon finds himself biting off more then he can chew, with the constant innocents shot down and the officials unable to intervene. Unflinching in its portrayal of the evils of social instability and tyranny in this underrated Oliver Stone story! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/13/24 Full Review Lee F James Woods performance is perfect as a self confessed Weasel photographer journalist. There are some shocking scenes which capture the violence of the time in Salvador. Overall a film I would recommend. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 10/27/23 Full Review Jelisije J A movie that should have focussed more on the struggle of the civil war in El Salvador than James Woods character in the first 46 minutes of the film. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 10/26/23 Full Review Andrew T Man, it's an incredible movie! I know why you feel so weird after watching it. The main actor is so goot at it, that you end hating the film, cause he's such a disgusting and unpleasant character, which has no personality at all and will always find a way to take advantages upon others. Even when he seems sad, he's just trying to convince others he's a poor guy. Even though, girls will fall for him somehow i cannot explain. The movie quality is great and i even forgot it was from the '80. the bruises, injuries and dead bodies looks so real with all of that very well made makeup that sometimes we wonder if they were just people acting out. Most impressive than that, they managed to mix a good humor with a terrible situation. I also gonna have to agree with you guys, that the main subject here which is the government political and power abuse over their people only served as a background over most of the movie lenght, but it won't make it shine less. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/06/23 Full Review William L With Stone as director, you knew exactly what sort of tone to expect a dramatic take on the Salvadoran Civil War to take, but even so you might be surprised at how bluntly he sets up bowling pins to knock down. US military figures are either clad in country club polos or throwing around allegations of "commie-lover" at any chance they get, usually providing the opportunity for Stone to level accusations of cruelty, dishonesty, or imperialism against the Reagan administration, using Woods' Richard Boyle as a mouthpiece. That's not to say he's wrong about quite a few of the statements he makes, but he's also not exactly subtle about it. Boyle is depicted as half Hunter S. Thompson, half moral crusader, with intermittent flashes of action hero; where did this boozehound screwup learn to do a combat tracheostomy? His character is inconsistent, often assessed (correctly) to be a grifter and a bum, and while he is at least compellingly acted, the film is never quite sure whether or not it's effectively about its protagonist or about the conflict in El Salvador, sprinkling in just enough scenes of which Boyle would have had no knowledge to skew the audience away from his perspective. The film is ambitious and well-intentioned, but has a clear tendency to serve as a soapbox that takes away from the more compelling elements, and all too often resorts to showing piles of bodies when the pacing and engagement otherwise lags. It's totally fair to distinguish between the art and the artist, but James Woods is a piece of shit. (2.5/5) Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 05/12/22 Full Review Read all reviews

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