Savage Salvation

"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.

I could not stand to watch more than 20 minutes of this movie with such a terrible plot, acting, and terrible everything. Very sad to see a acting legends like Robert DeNiro and John Malkovich stoop this low to be in a B movie and a terrible one at that. DeNiro is so old which makes him a very unbelievable law enforcement officer and at that age probably couldn't chase a suspect for more than a few yards. The rest of the supporting actors and actresses well very average as well which did not help this movie at all. Directing, cinematography, location with all terrible. Ocean City hope that Robert DeNiro and John Malkovich malkovich well not participate in any more of this type of movies.

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...

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.

'I've seen way way worse' from another reviewer... so this is to be taken, HOW? As if this movie is actually worth one's time? I guess it depends on our mood. I don't know if it was the same reviewer who said that 'people who will criticize this movie probably enjoy dumb comic book movies'. And i guess that means that all comic book movies are dumb.

Or does it indicate more about the reviewer?

In any case...this movie is NOT cringeworthy...it's decent 'paint by number'. It's just funny to hear DeNiro trying to do a southern accent. Malkovich does a LITtle bit better...i have not a CLUE as to why DeNiro did this film. Some people wrote 'for the paycheck'. Hmmmm...yeah. Because he hasn't made anything from his other films, i guess...and anyways...why should he be beholden to ANY of us 'spectators'... i think the movie, though not any great work of art, might be therapeutical to the many who were affected by opiates, in any form, over the last few decades...this, of course includes relatives.

While revenge isn't, necessarily, the best form of payback(i believe in letting someone's choices catch up with them...but i'm not asking anyone else to follow this way of dealing with being wronged), revenge MOVIES can be a great outlet...high or lowbrow...doesn't matter.