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 United States. Orlov says that the name of this agent is Evelyn Salt, and the chase is on from there. Immediately thrown under a veil of heavy suspicion, Evelyn desperately rushes out of the office to find her husband before he disappears from her life forever. Never mind abiding the law or taking the time to explain herself, she wants her husband now! When a woman gets pissed, it is in your best interest not to argue with her, especially if she is a CIA agent!

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 ****

“It's always the same thing. It's when you start to become really afraid of death that you learn to appreciate life. Do you like life, sweetheart?”
-- Norman Stansfield from The Professional (Leon)

“People do it everyday, they talk to themselves... they see themselves as they'd like to be, they don't have the courage you have, to just run with it.”
-- Tyler Durden from Fight Club

“What the fuck have you done lately?”
-- Wesley Gibson from Wanted

Wanted is a highly stylized, over the top, gun play action film. Wanted takes Crank and Shoot ‘Em Up and throws them into a blender and says fuck you because I can do it a million times better. Wanted is Timur Bekmambetov’s answer to Michael Bay’s career and the results favor Mr. Bekmambetov. Wanted is the story about a slacker whose life changes while refilling a prescription. Wanted is about the arrival of Angelina Jolie as an action film valkyrie; Wanted is a chance to see Morgan Freeman in a decent role once again; Wanted wants to worship at the altar of John Woo, Ringo Lam and Johnny To while trying to top all of them at the same time; Wanted adores the style of The Matrix like no other film in recent memory; Wanted is a never-ending adrenaline ride of money shot after money shot of gun play madness, but Wanted makes very little sense when all is said and done. Wanted is the film that Tyler Durden and Vladimir Putin can watch together and enjoy for totally different reasons.

James McAvoy’s Wesley Gibson googles his name while at work. No results come up from his search. Wesley is a slave to the corporate machine, a slave to the endless banal grind that is his life. We meet our narrator after a screen title announces that over 1,000 years ago, a fraternity of assassins made up of “a clan of Weavers” who secretly decide matters of life and death for the world. We cut to present day Chicago, where Wesley is going through the daily grind. He is as self-pitying as they come. His girlfriend is screwing his best friend. His job at the insurance company is the epitome of dead end jobs. His boss, Janice, is an abusive, overweight woman who delights in tormenting him. He is a human doormat. Wesley is a 21st Century mix of Jack Lemmon’s C.C. Baxter from The Apartment, Ed Norton’s Narrator from Fight Club and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man. Wesley cannot get a break. He takes anti-anxiety medication to help cope with all of this madness. He is fighting a hopeless war on every front. He has nothing in every sense of the word. He is in the ultimate rut; he is just plodding along with no possibilities. The American Dream is not dead to Wesley; he just does not have the drive to grab it. Those pills will dull your edge in no time. The rut comes to a smashing, exhilarating end when Wesley meets Fox (Angelina Jolie) at the drugstore one night to refill his prescriptions. Fox makes an unforgettable entrance as she has come to protect Wesley from the man who just killed his father. She tells him that his father was killed yesterday and that he is next. Fox has come to recruit Wesley into the fraternity of assassins.

Wanted is an ultra-slick, hyperactive and hedonistic joyride of an action film. To enjoy the film, I would suggest you leave reality behind as soon as you purchase your ticket. Reality does not seem to interest the film’s Russian director, Timur Bekmambetov. Bekmambetov directed the highly popular Night Watch and Day Watch films. Those films were highly influenced by the Wachowski Brothers’ The Matrix. He has a penchant for creating highly off the wall and silly action sequences. Wanted takes The Matrix and lots of Hong Kong action films to the furthest extremes. He is not interested in any obstacles to his vision-- walls are meant to be broken. The film is loosely based on a graphic novel by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones-- I have not read the graphic novel, but I have read that it differs from the film. The screenplay was written by Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Chris Morgan. Timur proved his visual flair with his Russian films. Night Watch and Day Watch are more style over substance than anything else-- I am looking forward to Twilight Watch for some reason. Wanted is his English language debut, quite an impressive debut it is. The film contains some of the best car chases and some of the best uses of cars in any action film recently. From the exciting car chase that follows the drugstore shootout to an explosive climatic train wreck sequence, Wanted delivers more hyper action than any other mainstream R-rated film I have seen recently. The film is loaded with enough visceral pleasures to make repeated viewings on DVD mandatory for many years to come. Wanted, like his previous films, is also style over substance, but he has so much more to work with here that it is unreal. I get a lot of shit for enjoying last year’s Clive Owen action vehicle, Shoot ‘Em Up. I know I am going to get a lot of shit for liking Wanted, but I really do not care anymore. If you did not like that film, you better stay away from Wanted; you can always go see The Love Guru instead.

Wanted could have easily been called the belated arrival of Ms. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. As Fox, Angelina Jolie may have found the perfect role. Before Mr. And Mrs. Smith, I would jokingly refer to her as the Anna Kournikova of movies. She is a beautiful woman, but her choice of roles has not been the best. I know she won a supporting actress Oscar for Girl, Interrupted, but her lead roles left a lot to be desired. Beyond Borders was a way to merge her United Nations role and Council on Foreign Relations role to her films. While she was the ideal Lara Croft, the Tomb Raider films never did anything with her and never did anything period. Her political activism and her role as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations has been her best work. She had a small, but memorable part in Sky Captain and The World Of Tomorrow, but it was not until she played Jane Smith in Mr. And Mrs. Smith that she had a role that was worthy of her talents. It helps that she had great chemistry with Brad Pitt. And the rest as they say is history. A Mighty Heart was a noble effort on her part; she turned in a good performance in the film, but it was more about her than Daniel Pearl. It was a true vanity piece. As Fox, Angelina Jolie is a cross between Dirty Harry and Trinity. She is the ultimate killing machine. Fox does remind me of Trinity from the Matrix films as Wesley reminds me of Neo. Fox is the perfect part for Jolie; it is the femme fatale that she has always wanted to play. (Still, how does she reconcile a character who embraces so much death and destruction when in real life she is global warrior for peace?) Fox is a member of a fraternity of assassins who takes orders from a mystical, giant loom in a textile factory in Chicago. The fraternity is led by a man named Sloan played by the always reliable Morgan Freeman in wise sage mode. Sloan is a cross between Yoda and Morpheus. It might be one of the meatier parts that Freeman has had in many years. The fraternity takes out people who are a threat to the world.

As Wesley, James McAvoy proves that there is in an action star waiting to break out of that slacker’s body. James McAvoy is a well rounded actor. He has done great work before in The Last King Of Scotland and especially in Atonement. He was very good in Bright Young Things, The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe and Starter For Ten. Wesley’s life changes forever when he meets Fox on that fateful night. He learns who is father was and that he has a destiny. Fox and her fellow assassins must break him down and build him up to be a great assassin like his father. Wesley goes through a grueling training regime that is a far cry from any Jedi training I have ever seen. He is beaten and cut up enough times to make this look like the worst and longest pledging period in the history of any fraternity. McAvoy plays Wesley like an unsympathetic whiner throughout most of the film. He is not as likable as Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker, but he does not display the blankness of Keanu Reeve’s Neo. In many ways, he reminds me of Ed Norton from Fight Club with a large dose of Chow Yun Fat double gun blazing goodness. Of all the assassins, it is Fox who must bring out Wesley’s special powers in order for him to avenge his Father’s death. The success of the film is partly due to the chemistry that McAvoy and Jolie have with each other onscreen. It is very much mentor/student relationship. They make a great pair. But make no mistake about it, this film is a glowing tribute to Angelina Jolie’s physique-- she makes no bones about her beauty and reminds us of it in every frame of the film. Angelina Jolie is the slickest weapon in the whole film-- a beautiful killing machine in the ultimate pulp wasteland. In Wanted, Angelina Jolie has finally embraced the myth, the hype and the object that is Angelina Jolie. She does not say much in the film and it works toward the film’s advantage.

I can honestly say this is the first film where Timur Bekmambetov finally finds his groove. In some ways, I think Wanted works a lot better than Night Watch and Day Watch. Both films have some great set pieces in them, but I could never get into them as a whole. Wanted makes no pretensions about what it is and what it wants to do. It is the R-Rated comic book film for people looking for a mean spirited break from the good natured PG-13 films of summer. Is Timur Bekmambetov the logical heir to such Russian masters as Sergei Eisenstein and Andrei Tarkovsky? Hell no!!! It is safe to say that he in no way resembles those masters. Bekamambetov worships at the shrine of John Woo and Ringo Lam and he is greatly influenced by their styles as well as well as the Wachowski Brothers Matrix films. He is a great admirer of David Fincher’s Fight Club. Fincher’s influence can be felt throughout the film-- especially the office scenes. Even though Wanted is an American film, Bekmambetov has made a film that Vladimir Putin would admire and even enjoy. He might have made it for Putin in the first place.