You know what? The summer 2010 movie season may very well go down in history as the summer of the preposterous action movie. We’ve already had The A-Team with four guys trying to steer a parachuting tank with its turret by firing rounds out of it, then there was Tom Cruise who could do just about anything except take the time to go to the bathroom in Knight and Day (Jack Bauer had that problem too), and even the brilliant Inception employs a concept which is not at all possible (unless the military is trying to keep it a secret). And now we have Salt with Angelina Jolie which runs very rapidly through a river of plot holes and leaps in logic, and it’s just as much fun as the films I previously mentioned. Thanks to director Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, Rabbit Proof Fence) who keeps things moving at such a fast pace, there’s not much time to sit back and count all the inconsistencies. All we can do is hang on to the edge of our seats and revel in the slam bang action which has brought to us without an overuse of CGI effects.
Speaking of Tom Cruise, he was almost set to star in this film, but he feared that the character would be too close to Ethan Hunt from the Mission Impossible movies. In the end, I think Knight and Day was the better movie for Tom as we desperately wanted (and needed) to see him poke fun at himself, and that’s in spite of its disappointing box office performance. Salt is a much more serious action thriller, and its tone is not as light as you might suspect. Coming out of it, I was convinced that this role was tailor made for Jolie. There may have been several other actresses who could have pulled this role off just as well, but who comes to mind quicker than the star of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Wanted and the Tomb Raider movies?
Angelina Jolie plays CIA agent Evelyn Salt who is just about to head on home to her loving husband Mike (August Diehl) who loves to study spiders (KEEP THEM AWAY FROM ME AND MY STEP NIECE!!!) when she and her partner Ted Winter (Live Schreiber) suddenly get the opportunity to interrogate a Russian defector. During this interrogation, the defector whose name is Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski) says that soon a highly trained Russian agent will assassinate the Russian President when he visits the
Evelyn Salt is a mixture of both Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer, and this is especially the case in how she manages to evade capture or break free from highly trained agents and officers on more than one occasion. The movie really plays on Jolie’s strengths throughout, and off the kind of person the media has perceived her to be. I say this because over the years she has been treated like some seriously deranged human being who would have sex with her bother instead of a regular person which she is if anyone actually bothered to notice. Jolie plays on these perceptions throughout Salt as we watch her in relentless pursuit of those who wish to capture and question her, and as she changes her appearance to get closer to her objective. Granted, a lot of women don’t look much like Angelina Jolie which makes her more noticeable than most, but she does make us believe she can pull off one plan after another.
I also liked the fact that by the time she comes to meet the man that will soon become her husband that you can believe she has been fully trained to all she can do. A lot of movies would almost have you believe that these characters were born with these skills and have perfected them since they were toddlers. Going back to Knight and Day with Tom Cruise, you kept wondering how his character got all his training in as he was growing up. It seemed too good to be true that he could do all the things he could do. With Jolie, you never doubt her even as the movie becomes more ridiculous by the minute. Salt is not on some ego trip and showing off just how smart and hot she is (like she really needs to anyway).
There are so many twists and turns throughout Salt that it shamelessly flaunts its illogic plot developments throughout to where we give up trying to figure it all out. Compared to many of Phillip Noyce’s other movies, this is easily the most kinetic action movie he has made to date, and that’s even compared to his Dead Calm which introduced Nicole Kidman to the world. You could complain about how things don’t add up, but Noyce never lets the pace of the movie lag for a second, and we never find the time to sort through the plot and characters while we are watching. For other movies this would be a major hindrance, but for Salt it works to its advantage. You’re too thoroughly entertained to even care if this film is messing with our head one time too many. Well, at least it’s not like your average M. Night Shyamalan movie where he tries to outsmart us long after we have begged him to stop.
In addition to the talents of Ms. Jolie, you also have the great Liev Schreiber as her partner and friend Ted Winter. Many consider Liev to be this stone-faced actor who wears the same expression in each and every movie he does, and that it makes him bad actor as a result. But that’s probably because they have never seen him act onstage, and he is beyond extraordinary with every role he takes on. Schreiber holds his own against the formidable Jolie as he desperately works to protect his friend from those who would just make her disappear upon their suspicions alone. As Ted Winter, he knows there is something fishy going on regarding Salt, and that the accusations are just that. You root for him as he gets closer and closer to getting a full idea of who she really is.
You also have Chiwetel Ejiofor (I will be able to pronounce his name someday) as Peabody, an agent above Winter who pursues Salt relentlessly. He’s the character you want to shake around and slap in the face so that he can see how wrong he is about her (or how wrong we think he is). Chiwetel has done great work over the years, most notably in Stephen Frears’ Dirty Pretty Things, and he gives more than your average one-dimensional government official who would foolishly believe a Russian defector over a loyal agent from the CIA.
We also have to give Phillip Noyce much credit for not relying on a plethora of CGI effects in Salt. When you see Angelina Jolie clinging for dear life on her apartment building from at least 12 stories up, that’s no green screen she’s hanging over (get ready for some serious vertigo). It all reminded me of how good Live Free or Die Hard was from a few years ago. That one tried to make the effects as real as possible as the filmmakers came to recognize that the typical film going audience was no longer easily fooled by effects generated by a computer. Sometimes it’s not even better than the real thing!
If there is one seriously massive complaint I have against Salt, it’s in regards to Andre Braugher’s role as the Secretary of Defense. Those of you who know me well are fully aware of what a huge die hard fan I was of the NBC cop show from the 90’s called Homicide: Life on the Street. Andre’s work on the show was beyond brilliant, and not many other actors can manipulate people through such theatrically volcanic explosions of anger. Furthermore, let us not forget his work in movies like Glory where he made the first of many memorable impressions. But in Salt, he is relegated to a role where he barely has any lines and is given far too little to do. What gives?! You want to cast Andre Braugher in a movie, then you give him a big part which is in tune with his well known talents. Stop giving him roles that could be played by anyone! It’s an insult I tells ya!!
Maybe Salt is more fun that it deserves credit for. But along with a pulsating score by James Newton Howard and some tight film editing by John Gilroy and the well regarded Stuart Baird, the movie gives you a good dose of adrenalin pumping fun that we don’t always get on the silver screen. For many, this summer movie going season has been seriously underwhelming, so we have to be thankful for anything that really enthralls us like this one. Nitpick all you want about the events in Salt, it’ll still keep you on the edge of your seat throughout.
***½ out of ****
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