753. Salvador (1986)

Running Time: 123 minutes
Directed By: Oliver Stone
Written By: Oliver Stone, Rick Boyle
Main Cast: James Woods, James Belushi, Michael Murphy, John Savage, Elpidia Carrillo
Click here to view the trailer

STONE WEEK: 2 of 4

Yes folks, you read that right, James Belushi somehow managed to get a role in a "must see" film. However, the fact of the matter is that I'd rather watch reruns of "According to Jim" than have to sit through "Salvador" again and that's saying something.

James Woods stars as Richard Boyle, a down on his luck, American photographer. When his wife takes their child & leaves him and he's ousted from his apartment, Boyle hits the road, alongside Dr. Rock (Belushi), an American disc jockey, headed for El Salvador. At the time, El Salvador is in the middle of a civil war and it's Boyle's plan to scrape up some freelance work, shooting some pictures. Boyle is a born con-artist and manages to weasel help out of anyone with a set of ears, managing to get together some funds and a camera. Once there, Boyle hooks up with his old girlfriend, Maria (Carrillo) and falls in love all over again. However, his girlfriend is without proper paperwork and if stopped, she could be killed for not having it. Boyle tries diligently to get Maria her papers, all the while trying to convince her to marry him, get some pictures and get his nose into the middle of the political turmoil.

Okay, so maybe "Salvador" wasn't so bad that I'd prefer "According to Jim" reruns, but I have to say I really didn't take to it. Oliver Stone is obviously a talented filmmaker, but he tries too hard to educate us, rather than just tell us a story. I just can't seem to get interested in films that deal with politics, civil wars and the like. I had absolutely no interest in learning about the history of El Salvador and the turmoil they faced, yet here was Stone trying his best to try and entice me. I didn't care for the cast here either, as Woods tried too hard to be funny and the comedy didn't mix well with the heaping piles of dead bodies. Oh and did I mention James Belushi's in this? And yet, I have absolutely no idea why he was in it, because his character literally does nothing. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that Belushi wandered on to the set one day and stumbled into a dozen or so scenes and they just felt sorry for him and left them in. So lets see here...

CHECKLIST:
*hated all the politics, civil war talk and the history lesson
*hated Woods and his feeble attempt at trying to be funny in the midst of an otherwise very serious film
*HATED James Belushi

Yeah, I think we got it. I will say that the film started out well and I appreciated Stone's efforts to try and familiarize us with the characters, before throwing us into the real meat of the plot - that was a smart move. Unfortunately the movie didn't work too well on me and I ultimately found the film to very basic and pretty formulaic. 'Nuff said.

RATING: 4/10  Okay, that's TEN films in a row now that have failed to garner at least a '7' rating. Either I'm getting too picky or this book seriously lowered their standards when labeling movies as "must see". Either way, this ends with the next movie...I guarantee it.

MOVIES WATCHED: 570
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 431

November 3, 2012  4:07pm