Salt: Movie Review

Evelyn Salt is a very mysterious lady. As a field agent in the C.I.A. Evelyn finds herself constantly fighting for her life abroad; however after a botched mission in North Korea Evelyn finds herself back in Washington D.C. leading a domesticated life, married, and pushing paper. On her wedding anniversary a Russian defector shows up at the C.I.A. headquarters with a great story of sleeper assassin cells being planted into the American government. The name he's naming? Evelyn Salt. Finding her loyalties questioned Evelyn goes on the run either a) trying to prove her innocence or b) complete the mission set out for her from the Russian government.

Angelina Jolie plays the title-character Evelyn Salt, and plays it better than anyone else I can think of. The film was originally written for Tom Cruise, but he backed out, and I must admit I'm glad he did because I really don't think that that this movie would have been nearly as good as it was with anyone else. Don't get me wrong, this movie wasn't amazing - but it really wasn't that bad. I went into this film wanting to hate it so much, however, found myself actually enjoying it. The cast were fun to watch and I was thoroughly impressed with director, Phillip Noyce's, portrayal of the film. I wasn't sure how the film would look because Noyce is a hit and miss director; although his niche definitely rests in the spy genre as he is the mind behind many Tom Clancy film adaptations. I believe that Noyce's performance as a director was only accented by veteran-writer Kurt Wimmer, who also penned other crime films like Law Abiding Citizen, Street Kings, and the film adaptation of The Thomas Crown Affair.

The plot is filled with gaping holes, but that's what makes it fun.  For the first 30 minutes the main question: if Evelyn Salt is truly innocent - why the hell is she running instead of just staying and facing the music? The answer to that question comes about within the first 30 - 40 minutes of the film, and then  the movie becomes fairly predictable.  But predictable isn't actually bad in this movie. You see what's coming 100 miles away, yet it still captivates because of the absurdity of it all. There is a scene where Salt jumps from transport truck to transport truck on a highway, or climbs around an apartment building ledge no thicker than my thumb many stories off the ground. The action, the stunts, half of the movie is so absurdly unrealistic that you can just sit back and enjoy it.  This movie is actually pure mind-numbing fun; much like in my honest opinion The A-Team. This movie isn't trying to be something it isn't. It's not trying to be too sophisticated or pretentious and it doesn't play itself out as that. One can easily go into this film, turn off their mind and watch a great cat and mouse chase film.

I know that there were mixed reactions at the screening about the film and I know I can be fairly harsh on movies in general, but in all honesty no matter how hard I wanted to hate this film I found myself enjoying myself at every turn.

I definitely recommend this film. Just go on in, turn off your mind, just don't expect to have your mind blown or anything - just ready to enjoy a thrill ride of a movie.

4 out of 5