Director Phillip Noyce is one of those filmmakers who seems to be able to make entertaining Hollywood films with fine actors yet few of his works are memorable (The Bone Collector, The Saint, Clear & Present Danger, Patriot Games, and my personal favorites, Blind Fury, Dead Calm). The last two are films that I really enjoyed but were seen by a fewer people than the first few mentioned. You can now add Salt to that list.
Salt is basically another one of those paint-by-numbers action/chase films that we have seen countless times (The Bourne/Mission: Impossible Franchises, The Fugitive and its’ sequel that hardly anyone remembers) and that’s just to name a few. What sets Salt apart from the rest is that the main character is a woman (though the part was originally written for a man).
The story centers on CIA officer Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) who while questioning a defector is informed by him that she is in fact a Russian spy that has been planted in the US for many years just waiting to be activated and that she is supposed to kill a major political figure. This information is revealed to her while Evelyn’s fellow agents are listening to the conversation that is happening in the interrogation room of the CIA. Agent Salt knows she is being set up and figures out a way to escape from CIA headquarters so she can go warn her husband who she feels is in danger.
Salt is being hunted by her partner, agent Ted Winter (Live Schreiber) and agent Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor). These are 2 actors that I love to watch when they are given better material to work with. If you have ever seen Ejiofor in Red belt, Serenity, or Inside Man, then you know what I am talking about. Same thing goes for Schreiber (who happened to be the only good thing about last year’s Wolverine movie). As both men are on the hunt, they both have questions about whether Salt is actually a spy or if she is being set up. The answer becomes less clear as the film progresses. That is one of the best things about the film. I would find myself questioning things that I was so sure I knew the answers to.
There are some great set pieces and you can tell that Jolie did a lot of the stunts herself (She did things in this movie that you don’t see many male action stars doing themselves). There is one scene in an elevator shaft that to me was just so implausible that it actually made me laugh at the fact that they had the Salt character do it. There is also a great kill at the end of the film that made the whole theater cheer and I was right along with them. It was probably the most original moment in the whole movie.
If you feel like going to see a film that has some good chases, a few twists, and a few more chases thrown in, and don’t mind feeling like you just paid $10.50 to see a movie you know you have seen before just starring a different set of actors, than you can do a lot worse than Salt.
By: Marc Ferman
