Salt - Review

Angelina Jolie is a beautiful woman. Angelina Jolie is in a relationship with Brad Pitt. Angelina Jolie has a lot of children. Angelina Jolie is a UN ambassador. Angelina is a beautiful woman.


Angelina Jolie, more importantly, is a capable and distinguished actress. This statement often has been neglected to be mentioned by the psychotic acronym-named paparazzi parasites. She is one of the few actress who is very believable both in drama and action films. She really is the only Hollywood action actress seemingly left at this point, as the female gender seemingly only exists now as walk-ons and hand-holders to boyhood power creations, i.e. the Gemma Artertons.


SALT is an entertaining B-film that pulls on the reins of the Jason Bourne films but doesn't simply become Jane Bourne. It may feel and look like a copy and paste job, which it is largely, but it implements some amazing action chases and goofy old-fashioned political fears to be a treat to viewers. Also, Angelina Jolie is a woman with great acting skills to hold the picture together. And she is beautiful.



CIA Agent Evelyn Salt walks out one morning, away from her quirky spider-obsessed husband and loving dog. She enters work only to give chase due to the supposed testimony of a Russian defector. He has framed her as a sleeper agent who has been assigned to kill the Russian President. Instead of going on two fronts, one to follow the escaping Salt and one to follow the defector who escapes after killing two CIA agents, federal agents Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) and Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) only decide to follow Salt, since she's more of a risk. I simply guess that cause this plot hole expands more when the defector turns out to be the head of the spy infiltration operation. Salt leads them and the viewers throughout a cavalcade of espionage, hostile takeovers, make-shift weapons, and a peculiar rehashing of Cold War paranoia and propoganda.



The film is well-crafted, despite the plot holes and odd moments, and does have some spectacular action scenes. The thrilling car chases have been highlighted in the trailers but the finale at a certain landmark takes the spotlight. Director Phillip Noyce does a good job with several suspenseful scenes involving the question of Salt's true loyalty. However, the lingering effects of the Jason Bourne trilogy still reside in the frame.



The acting of three leads are entertaining with the majority going to Jolie. She does work the mysterious nature of Salt well throughout the film, keeping the kinetic energy to see what happens next. You experience many sides of Salt, including one part in male drag, but despite an conclusive statement at the end, it is still hard to believe it considering the range of emotions Jolie has exhibited throughout the film to fool everyone.



SALT is a good summer popcorn flick and pulls off some exceptional stunts before becoming ridiculous. Other than the Bourne references, it is also an entertaining callback to early 90's action with the Jack Ryan films and THE FUGITIVE before the arrival of Michael Bay.

FINAL REVIEW: 3 / 5