Review: Salt
Posted July 23, 2010 12:36 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
My expectations for Salt were quite low (the whole “Who is Salt?” marketing campaign could be the cause of that), but with its non-stop, high energy, over-the-top action sequences, easy to follow tale of espionage, and solid performances, Salt is the perfect summer flick and I must admit I enjoyed the heck out of it.
The script by Kurt Wimmer feels more like a thriller that we would have seen in the ‘80s during the height of the tension between America and Russia. CIA agent Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is accused of being a Russian spy and immediately goes on the run with the intention of protecting her husband and clearing her name. Or is she really a Russian spy escaping so she can carry out her supposed mission –- to kill the Russian president while he’s in New York City attending the funeral of the American vice president, thereby starting another war between America and Russia? That’s the general premise, and so I don’t spoil it — not to mention the fact that 90% of the film is Jolie running, getting shot at, shooting back, jumping off bridges or buildings, and blowing things up using MacGyver-style bombs — nothing else really needs to be said about the story.
Salt works primarily because of Jolie, who is one of most natural-looking (and believable) actresses when she’s handed a gun. Give someone like Nicole Kidman or Jennifer Connelly a gun and the audience laughs, but with Jolie you accept it the same way you would if it was Harrison Ford. She also comes across so tough with the martial arts and physical aspects of the role that she makes Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne character look like a little schoolgirl. Originally the role was written for Tom Cruise to play. I don’t think it would have worked if he was cast (and I believe Jolie could probably eat him for breakfast if pitted against him in real life).
In supporting roles Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor, playing fellow CIA agents hunting for Salt, fit their generic parts fine even if they are shrouded in Jolie’s shadow. Neither gets to show their true talent but both deliver what they are supposed to and are solid while doing so.
Given that most movies in this genre focus on Iraq or Afghanistan as the villains these days it does seem like the right time to go back to making the Russians the enemies again. And director Phillip Noyce, who last directed Jolie in the 1999 psychological thriller The Bone Collector, knows how to handle politically-driven action spy films just fine (he also directed Patriot Games and Clear And Present Danger).
While Salt might not be the best film to come along this year (or even remembered come next year for that matter) it is fun and exciting and has all the right elements to entertain you if you give it a chance.
*** out of 5 stars
Rated PG
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Directed by: Phillip Noyce
Official Site IMDb
brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com
ALSO OPENING THIS WEEK: Gasland, Ramona and Beezus
Top image: A scene from Salt. Courtesy Sony Pictures.
