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Salt
An action movie that defies physics and expectations
Salt is one of the most surprising films I have seen in quite some time. It's not that I expected it to be bad but I went into it (with my brother) looking forward to a fun, harmless action film. What I got was that and much, much more. It's such a relief and a breath of fresh air nowadays to see an action movie done well since, sadly, that's a rarity. Fortunately, Salt is not only a good film but a great one that just barely misses the mark on being a classic.
The premise is fairly simple. A CIA agent named Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is accused of plotting to assassinate the Russian president. She sets out on a quest to prove her innocence. We the viewers are left with some burning questions. Is Salt really planning to do this? If not, who could be setting her up? Why does this woman's last name sound like what I put on my popcorn?
Fortunately, the movie answers all these questions, save for the last one. We find out what's really going on as the action intensifies and Jolie's lips get more and more pouty. There may be more to the matter at hand than initially expected. In fact for someone not to be surprised by the twists that the movie deals out that person would have had to cease breathing. If there's anybody out there who could give a care less about any of that, let me assure you that there's plenty more here to keep you watching till the end.
Jolie is just fantastic and I do not say that that often about her. In my opinion this is one of her strongest performances to date. I enjoy several of her films but although she is gorgeous to behold I just do not find her all that interesting of an actress. In Salt, she is one of the main reasons I kept watching. And Liev Schreiber certainly helps. I think he is one of the most underrated actors in the world today and that may be because of his role selections since he had the unfortunate task of recently starring in the moribund Repo Men and the hilariously ridiculous X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The first two things that come to my mind when thinking about him are the Scream franchise and The Omen. If I'm not mistaken, he was also in Kate & Leopold with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman. Anyway, as you can see, he doesn't have a knack for picking memorable roles. He's certainly accomplished that here. The other actor that comes to mind upon my recollection of the film is Chiwetel Ejiofor, who is also good.
But even with all this praise, Salt is far from perfect. Some of the scenes are ridiculous. The one that had Salt leaping onto the roof of a passing semi comes to mind. There's no way that's even close to being based in reality. I had some reserves about how the film had the tendency to rush into some of the twists. These things come from left field but what I wanted was to have my mind blown and I did, but not always. I also was a little letdown by the ending. What is the purpose of setting up a sequel? There's nothing left to explain. I know that a screenplay could easily be constructed for Salt 2 or Pepper or whatever it will be called, but would it be necessary? I think that will depend on whether or not the first film is successful (which it definitely has turned out to be) and I think that's a shame because I wish that the film could be judged on substance and not sustenance. This also leads me to believe that that easily-constructed screenplay I spoke of could turn out to be predictable and sloppy. Let's hope that's not the case.
I thought I had all the tricks figured out. I thought no movie could ever make me shake my head in disbelief at a twist again. Turns out I was mistaken. Salt has made me see the light. I was blown away by the technical superiority of it and the stunning action sequences. It's one of the best movies of 2010.
Score: :D:D:D:D1/2
Categories: None
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