Salt (C+ or 2.5/4 stars)
'Salt', directed by Phillip Noyce, has finally hit theaters; and many people wonder if it will get swallowed up by last week's hit Inception. My opinion: it will do juuuust fine. Much has been made of Angelina Jolie's participation in the spy/action thriller since the role was originally written for a male (Tom Cruise?). What it all comes down to is this - the movie is okay, but Angie rocks the house. Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is one of the CIA's toughest agents. She's sworn her oath to duty, honor; & given up almost everything for America. But when a Russian defector, Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski) calls her out as an undercover KGB agent, she is forced to go on the run; hunted by Internal Affair operative Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor), as well as her own loyal partner, Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber).
As Orlov explains himself, Evelyn Salt's objective is to assassinate Russian Pres. Matyveyev (Olek Krupa), who is in the U.S. attending the funeral of the U.S. Vice President. True to her espionage form, Salt starts eluding her pursuers; hoping, at the same time, that her cherished German-American husband (August Diehl) can be left out of this turn of events. Her run-&-hide adventure eventually leads to the cathedral where the VP's funeral mass is being held, but ... will she fulfill this Russian mission to take out the Russian prez? If she's innocent, will she find proof of who set her up? OR, is there something else afoot?
It's pretty simple to break-down my likes & dislikes of 'Salt'. The 1st 30-45 min. are pretty damn good. The last 10-15 are well-executed, too. But the 30-40 minute chunk in the middle - while not awful - did very, very little for me (endless chases, costume changes). 'Salt' contains oodles of action. Most of it is well choreographed (if incredibly over-the-top). I liked an original sequence where the pipe organs in the cathedral go haywire, haha. The sound design of the film is superb. And the musical score throbs in all the right places. But interesting, cohesive narrative really takes a back seat. In other words, you can't take 'Salt' seriously. I know this is a summer action flick, but it's fairly serious tone (bereft of humor) makes the preposterous nature of the stunts less forgivable.
The movie's mystery question - is Evelyn a single, double, or triple agent? - is a great one. Howwwever, the mystery is 'basically' solved by the midpoint of the plot, so all we really have to relish IS the action; however sturdy the sequences are. That said, the real reason to see this movie is Angelina Jolie. She is a star. Colloquially speaking, Jolie takes this movie by the balls & runs with it. If any other male celebrity would have taken the role, evaded pursuers, blew things up, etc. - we'd be bored. But not with a female ... not with Angelina. She just adds a different physical & emotional dimension to the proceedings (alternating btwn. sweet victim & warrior, heroine & villain). And I tell ya, she was in full-blown "I'm gonna stare you down & kill you with my eyes" mode. Loved it!
Overall, 'Salt' is a decent action thriller. The plot is pretty empty -- pursuit, evasion, arbitrary twist, repeat. And it is too outlandish for its own good. But the lead performance & some nifty action scenes (in the beginning & end) override the simplistic spy story by a fair margin. The pacing is also quite good. At 100 minutes, the movie moves along swimmingly. But like I said: lean, taut, exciting flourishes does not make a completely satisfying venture. Still, 'Salt' is neither great nor bad enough to 'not' recommend. Angie is great. I enjoyed spurts. And the audience I saw it with seemed to dig it, too.
As Orlov explains himself, Evelyn Salt's objective is to assassinate Russian Pres. Matyveyev (Olek Krupa), who is in the U.S. attending the funeral of the U.S. Vice President. True to her espionage form, Salt starts eluding her pursuers; hoping, at the same time, that her cherished German-American husband (August Diehl) can be left out of this turn of events. Her run-&-hide adventure eventually leads to the cathedral where the VP's funeral mass is being held, but ... will she fulfill this Russian mission to take out the Russian prez? If she's innocent, will she find proof of who set her up? OR, is there something else afoot?
It's pretty simple to break-down my likes & dislikes of 'Salt'. The 1st 30-45 min. are pretty damn good. The last 10-15 are well-executed, too. But the 30-40 minute chunk in the middle - while not awful - did very, very little for me (endless chases, costume changes). 'Salt' contains oodles of action. Most of it is well choreographed (if incredibly over-the-top). I liked an original sequence where the pipe organs in the cathedral go haywire, haha. The sound design of the film is superb. And the musical score throbs in all the right places. But interesting, cohesive narrative really takes a back seat. In other words, you can't take 'Salt' seriously. I know this is a summer action flick, but it's fairly serious tone (bereft of humor) makes the preposterous nature of the stunts less forgivable.
The movie's mystery question - is Evelyn a single, double, or triple agent? - is a great one. Howwwever, the mystery is 'basically' solved by the midpoint of the plot, so all we really have to relish IS the action; however sturdy the sequences are. That said, the real reason to see this movie is Angelina Jolie. She is a star. Colloquially speaking, Jolie takes this movie by the balls & runs with it. If any other male celebrity would have taken the role, evaded pursuers, blew things up, etc. - we'd be bored. But not with a female ... not with Angelina. She just adds a different physical & emotional dimension to the proceedings (alternating btwn. sweet victim & warrior, heroine & villain). And I tell ya, she was in full-blown "I'm gonna stare you down & kill you with my eyes" mode. Loved it!
Overall, 'Salt' is a decent action thriller. The plot is pretty empty -- pursuit, evasion, arbitrary twist, repeat. And it is too outlandish for its own good. But the lead performance & some nifty action scenes (in the beginning & end) override the simplistic spy story by a fair margin. The pacing is also quite good. At 100 minutes, the movie moves along swimmingly. But like I said: lean, taut, exciting flourishes does not make a completely satisfying venture. Still, 'Salt' is neither great nor bad enough to 'not' recommend. Angie is great. I enjoyed spurts. And the audience I saw it with seemed to dig it, too.