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MOVIE REVIEW
Salt
Is It Anna Chapman? Is
It Valerie Plame? No, It's Evelyn Salt! (Well, Maybe.)
On a mission to somewhere: Angelina Jolie as Evelyn
Salt in "Salt", directed by Phillip Noyce, now playing across the
U.S. and Canada.
Sony Pictures
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Sunday, August
8, 2010
Propulsive, dynamic and fierce, "Salt" is a savory surprise during this
lethargic big-budget cinema summer. Long-awaited and once the province of Tom Cruise (who
was in the running to star as Edwin A. Salt), the film's reworking as a vehicle
for a woman pays great dividends, as Angelina Jolie demonstrates. The film
opened on July 23 across North America.
Phillip Noyce's hard-edged action-thriller is less a spy film than a test of endurance on
a mystery-filled obstacle course. The film's rhythm is haphazard, ruthless
and razor sharp. Ms. Jolie is Evelyn Salt, CIA
agent -- proficient, professional, precise. Early on Salt is seen, post-battery and
bruising, in captivity somewhere in North Korea, looking
not unlike Christina Ricci in "Black Snake Moan".
"I am not a Russian spy," Salt wearily declares.
A captured Russian spy is interrogated by the CIA. He betrays Salt's
declaration.
All eyes are on Evelyn. Ms. Jolie's character goes into "Fugitive" overdrive across
Washington D.C., looking to clear her name in a murder or two and take care of some
unfinished business.
"Salt" plays to Ms. Jolie's strongest onscreen qualities: a feral, knowing
intelligence, smarts, beauty, agility and unmistakable allure. The film
is a good match for the Oscar winner, who has dabbled and dazzled
in the action genre several times ("Lara Croft: Tomb Raider", "Mr. & Mrs.
Smith", "Wanted"). Some of the
sequences Ms. Jolie is immersed in
are "Matrix" fantastical, but despite their occasional incoherence, she makes them work
very effectively. Ms. Jolie lets the film's fast-paced situations come to
her, never actively seeking to get ahead of or force-feed them with grandiose,
showy dialogue or behaviors that cue an audience as to what will happen next.
Most importantly, Ms. Jolie's total credibility as Evelyn Salt emerges as she
displays the bravery and tenacity of a woman wronged. Or is she
wronged? Often we are unsure if she really knows about the truth
of her circumstances, and there purposely (and thankfully) isn't much meat on a
back story to inform us. Periodic flashbacks of Evelyn Salt's "life" are
displayed as memories. She's struggling to remember who she is. Does
she have a clue? Is she taking all of us on a ride called "mind f--k"?
Mr. Noyce (who directed Ms. Jolie in "The Bone Collector") has often depicted
passionate everymen and underdogs in his films ("Rabbit Proof Fence",
"Catch A Fire", "Patriot Games", "Dead Calm"), but in "Salt" characters are
hardly righteous or without taint. The director also invites us to think
as an audience and not just ogle a sexy, embattled, complex heroine. Mr.
Noyce throws pertinent pieces of information at us in an economical fashion, and
exactly at the proper point it needs to be divulged. The disclosures are
suspenseful in their own small way.
Tightly wound, with the energy and fury of a runaway train, "Salt" rarely slows
down as its protagonist uses the full arsenal of skills embodying her trade.
Evelyn Salt thinks fast, acts fast and rarely looks back. After all, there's little time for
reflection on this wild journey. She's the rabbit and the fox.
The movie is sly bait for a wanting audience.
Great films like "Run Lola
Run" and "No Way Out" (1987) make a mark on this one, yet "Salt"
distinguishes itself as a lean, quick jolt of a ride that stays fresh and keeps on running, even when the clock
hits zero.
An FYI to Anna Chapman and Valerie Plame: Standby. A colleague and ally
may or may not be heading your way.
With: Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski, Andre Braugher,
August Diehl, Hunt Block, Olek Krupa.
"Salt"
is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture
Association Of America for intense sequences of violence and action. The film's
running time is one hour and 37 minutes.
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