Movie Review: SALT

Angelina Jolie stars as the titular Evelyn Salt, a CIA operative accused of being a Russian double agent and is forced to run and shoot and run and jump and run and dye her hair and run…

There is a plot in there somewhere about Cold War feuds, double and triple and hextuple crossing agents, love for a husband, and… um… spiders?  But it doesn’t matter because Salt is about the chase.  And, wow.  Does it give chase.

Right out of the gate, Salt is accused of being a sleeper agent for the KGB (remember when the Soviet Union was evil?) and the film doesn’t give you any reason to dissuade or confirm that.  In fact, it seems to really enjoy the cat-and-mouse game of keeping the audience out of the loop about the protagonist.  For some, this separation will build excitement as one doesn’t know how they feel about rooting for Mrs. Bourne while for others, this will keep you out of the film and stationed the theatre seating as you struggle with why you should bother caring about this stranger.

But again, this film is not about intricate plot lines and actually expects you to gloss over the plot holes canyons.  Angelina Jolie is the female Tom Cruise when it comes to star power and is similarly accepted as a femme fatale.  But for Salt, Kurt Wimmer (who penned Ultraviolet and Equilibrium) sheds the femme and gives us a lethal lady who doesn’t need to conveniently shed some clothing as a distraction to jump out of a helicopter.  This works for and against Jolie, though, as she can’t help but look gorgeous.  So to mask those feminine wiles, she wears her “stern” face the entire film which makes her appear bored throughout each chase.

And I suppose that’s where the line is drawn.  Some, like me, will feel bored along with her, watching the action unfold and the chase pursue without any real concern or investment and that’s just taxing in the worst way.  For others, this is exactly what is desired from this type of movie; a roller coaster ride of things happening one after another without a real need nor worry that our heroine might lose.

Either way, the tagline for this film is “Who is Salt?” and no matter which moviegoer group you fall in to, you’ll still be asking yourself that question at the end.

Salt, starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schrieber, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, opens Friday, July 23rd.