What Can We Say About The Movie, Salt
What do we say about the movie, Salt, from Columbia Pictures and created by writer, Kurt Wimmer? We can only say, “here we go again with Angelina Jolie in another bad ass flick.“ The movie begins with Jolie (Evelyn Salt), in the midst of brutal and unexplained torture at the hands of foreign speaking kidnappers. Without the slightest explanation, Jolie is then rescued and returned to the United States with the help of the man who soon becomes her husband. Years later, the stage is set with Jolie as a CIA agent ready to end her workday and spend some time with her devoted husband. Instead, Jolie is reluctantly persuaded to interview a suspected Russian terrorist who spills the beans that she is, in fact, a Russian agent with an assignment to kill the president. Do we believe the terrorist or do we believe the talented and dedicated CIA agent who vehemently proclaims her innocence? The movie receives an octane kick as Jolie races to contact her husband, prove her innocence, stay one step ahead of the growing number of agents determined to arrest her and find out why she is being set up. There are a few surprises in an otherwise predictable plot. Director, Phillip Noyce, best known for such movies as The Bone Collector and Clear and Present Danger, does include some good action packed, fighting sequences, explosions, and chase scenes that do help to take your mind off of the fact that Jolie, continues to work the deceptively deadly superwoman role she loves to play so well. Unfortunately, the movie fails to deliver a plausible amount of time to develop any type of connection with many of the characters or the mysterious relationship with the husband, a pivotal character in the movie. The metamorphosis of Jolie from the veteran, CIA agent to the possible murdering assassin is also lackluster and rushed. She kicks off her heels and tight dress to scale high rise window ledges and then hurtle backward over moving cars, all while proclaiming that she has been framed. The action continues to move to the entrance of an entirely new group of Russian characters. Obviously, the addition of these new players will answer the questions swirling around in everyone’s mind. The only question that gets answered is the question of whether Jolie can take out an entire room full of armed men in less than 2 minutes. All in all, Salt has some thrilling action scenes and shot ‘em up good times that allow the ninety nine minutes of the movie to be mostly enjoyable. Because of this, Salt gets an A minus for effort. The movie lacks character development, feels rushed and superficial and leaves the audience feeling like they have already seen this same movie before. Because of this, Salt gets a final grade of C minus. The movie also includes nice performances by actors LievSchrieber from the movies Scream and X-Men Origins: Wolverine and actor Chiwetel Ejiofor from the movie American Gangster and 2012.
