Salt Review
The summer of 2010 was one a summer for those over the top testosterone with Sly and Co been the expendable with the other corner with Liam Neeson compiling one of those plans Hannibal used to love ‘coming together’ by grouping the A-team. But there was one other action hero they forgot to mention that’s a heroine actually and that’s SALT, Evelyn Salt!
SALT is Phillip Noyce‘s venture into the the world of espionage -action thrillers and Evelyn Salt has been labelled ‘The Female Jason Bourne‘ and I would disagree with that statement however what some people forget Salt is probably the most successful female action hero to date (up there with Ripley). So now we have female heroine who can now give the old & new boys in the shape of James Bond and Jason Bourne a run for there money!
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have made it no secret that they desire for a Spy style franchise of their own to to challenge the old guard of the genre. What we see in Saltย there is massive potential in this movie to be a franchise so you could say Sony’s long wait could now be over. Angelina Jolie has tried many parts in many different genres with a lot seeming to fail miserably but it seems now she has found a genre she is comfortable in and acting to her best ability, action movies (maybe scrub out the Tourist though!).
So the movie kicks off in a rather James Bond style opening with Salt a half dead half naked interrogated Salt in North Korea (possibly a little hint of who is seen as the current enemy to the state). The setting is brutal but it quickly sets the motions Salt is an spy and one of high ranking (as seen in the next scenes) CIA establishing she is an dedicated ‘allegiance to the flag’ agent but if an ‘defector’ walks into the local CIA office and accuses you to been a Sleeper Russian spy what would they do? Go On The run!!!
Flipping off her heels its time to devise a plan to prove your innocence and show those boys that she maybe a woman but do expect a ass kicking! Expect ‘Americas Finest’ on major alert as a accused enemy of the state as we go on the run to enjoy the roller coaster ride of action packed fun that shows Evelyn salt is a lean mean killing machine who has an array of fine weaponry to her disposal, loves to jump over bridge, scales down walls to make sure in that fight you will feel the force of her pain. Just remember boys and girls don’t blink or you’ll miss some vital relentless action!
What I really like about this movie is its old fashioned style “Us Versus Them” scenario which is old school, with modern day touches but returns also back to the dark days of the espionage cold war roots and who better to be the enemy…Yes the Russians. I’m just old enough to remember the old classic BBCย quiz show Call My Bluff and Saltย provides many bluffs, double bluffs, even triple bluffs! Dump in some old fashion style Cold war paranoia which drives through the movie there more twists and turns in here than a formula One race track, so who can you trust? Who is Lying? Who is truthful?Who are actually the good guys and who are actually the bad guys?!
Salt aint a perfect movie, it has its flaws, a few silly scenes with a few predictable moments which actually make me drop the rating score by half a point, but the movie does move at a frantic pace you not see them or even remember them.
This movie was actually made for Tom Cruise to play Salt but as we know now he opted to play Roy Miller in Knight & Day and some believe that was a bad move on his account but actually it was a good thing as Knight & day brought out his funnier side in the genre and if he kept at been salt it would be like watching Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible. There is one scene in Salt when she actually gets into the Whitehouse disguised as a manย and the actual disguise is something Cruise has used in Mission Impossible. Why Jolie was the better choice is down to the fact a woman playing the part which gave you a sense of mystery, with things she does in the movie you would never expect her to do, she is a killer assassin in a world many believe is a man only world and any sane person knows its not.
I’m glad now I got the opportunity to watch this as I really wanted to see this movie back in the summer but the release coincide with myself working in Greece so I missed it and I would gladly say out of A-Team or The Expendables this is the best of the bunch. Salt is a intense no brainer movie that tags along at frantic pace and whilst watching this you should just sit back, relax let the outside world woes disappear for the next 90 plus minutes. Just strap up and buckle in and if you fall out, don’t expect Evelyn Salt to come back to strap you in again, oh no if she does come back its to shoot you! So move over boys there’s a new spy in town and her name is Evelyn SALT!
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Action, Thrillerย | 13th December 201oย (UK DVD) | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment |
Dir: Phillip Noyce |Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski | 15
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