Pot growers Ben and Chon face off against the Mexican drug cartel who kidnapped their shared girlfriend.
Acting
Benicio del Toro's Lado: terrifying, magnetic, somehow funny.
Direction
Stone's aggressive style—solar flares, saturated colors, unapologetic excess.
Writing
Don Winslow adaptation keeps the novel's propulsive pulp energy.
Director
Oliver Stone
Taylor Kitsch
Chon
Blake Lively
Ophelia 'O' Sage
Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Ben
John Travolta
Dennis
Salma Hayek Pinault
Elena
Benicio del Toro
Lado
Emile Hirsch
Spin
Demián Bichir
Alex
Sandra Echeverría
Magda
Diego Cataño
Esteban
Joaquín Cosío
El Azul
Jake McLaughlin
Doc/Sniper
Joel David Moore
Craig
Leonard Roberts
Hayes/'O' Security
Shea Whigham
Chad
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Stone shot two endings and tested both with audiences; the theatrical cut's ambiguity was a compromise.
Released during Mexico's drug war peak, the film sparked debate about Hollywood's exploitation of real cartel violence.
US
