
Salt is an incredibly efficient action movie. It’s made with skill and finesse, it’s exciting, and it’s over before it outstays its welcome. In a world where summer blockbusters are routinely reaching two and a half hour length, for better or for worse, sometimes it’s good just to see an old fashioned movie where you walk in, go on a 90 minute ride, and get out. At no point will the question “What does it meeeeean?” cross your mind. Let's reserve that question for more ambitious films and the study of double rainbows.
Angelina Jolie stars as the title character Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent, and the film opens with her in her underwear, completely battered and bruised. At least the filmmakers can never be accused of exploitation She has been imprisoned in North Korea, accused of being an American spy. She is then freed through a prisoner exchange, and we zoom ahead to present day. For a while this scene seems to have no importance, but we learn otherwise much later.
From this point on there seems to be a major plot twist every 10 minutes. A Russian defector turns himself in to Salt’s CIA office and she interrogates him. Through an elaborate story he claims that there are a group of Russian spies living among us. (Pure fiction, of course.) One of them is going to assassinate the President of Russia at the American Vice President’s funeral. The name of this Russian spy? Evelyn Salt. “Hoho, that’s my name, silly” says Jolie in not quite those words. Next thing she knows she’s running. And running. And running. Then she runs some more. Cut to credits.
The audience remains interested because Salt’s intentions are never revealed to us. We think she’s running home to save her husband, played by August Diehl, the one who says "auf wiedersehen" to his Nazi man parts in Inglourious Basterds. When Salt appears to be a mindless robot, her feelings for her husband make us believe there might be some humanity behind the killing machine. The promos ask us “Who is Salt?” and we are never sure until the end. Dinner for Schmucks was predictable where Salt is not. No, they are not comparable projects, but it’s a point.
Salt was directed by Phillip Noyce from a script by Kurt Wimmer (Ultraviolet, Law Abiding Citizen) and Brian Helgeland (Mystic River, Green Zone, Robin Hood). Noyce has had some commercial success in action movie land before, with such films as Clear and Present Danger. He’s also made more critically hailed films like Rabbit-Proof Fence. Salt is a pure action movie, and it is made incredibly well. Noyce doesn’t employ the Michael Bay camera technique, but instead he lets us watch everything and enjoy it.
This is not as good a film as I may make it sound, and in most summers it might get thrown to the wayside. However, this summer has lacked a standout action movie that doesn’t start with “In” and end in “ception”. This is the first one I’ve seen in a long time that held my attention through even three quarters of its running time, and if you just want a good time at the movies, you should check this movie out. Salt does not have a premise that is incredibly original, and there must not have been much of a screenplay as much as stage directions, but it was fun while it lasted.
As the movie goes on the plot grows more and more absurd. Eventually the threat shifts from the Russian President to the American one (who in a bold move for Hollywood is white) and eventually nukes get involved. We never know what characters are on what side, and there is one particular twist towards the end that almost made me laugh. But you know what? I felt like I was laughing WITH the movie. I could be wrong, but this development seemed to just be another in a series of increasing absurdities that add to the fun of the entire experience.
At this time next year Salt will be on no one’s radar. There is little or no originality here, but let’s face it: we don’t get enough of films like Salt anymore. One can quibble about its several flaws or lack of originality, but why? Can’t you just enjoy a quick roller coaster ride when it’s given to you? If you’re bored one day or night, Salt could be just the distraction you’re looking for.
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