|
 After
watching this film I asked myself, ‘LMD, would this movie have been
nearly as enjoyable if a man had played this role?’ ‘Heck no,’ was my
answer to me. This is one of the joys of Salt; it’s an amped up,
throw-down, all-out action movie centered around its female protagonist
and it’s been ages since there’s been an example of girl power as
thrilling as this.
Angelina Jolie has unfortunately become better known for being a tabloid
target than an Oscar-winning actress. This is a real shame; long before
she got the gold for 1999’s Girl, Interrupted, I’d expected big things
from the performer with the intense, seductive presence, wry humour and
Jaggerian facial features. She could play tough and vulnerable all at
once as proved in 1998’s Gia, as well as Girl, Interrupted, and seemed
in demand for not only action but drama projects; but somewhere along
the line things got screwy. Her presence in Hollywood became more like
a circus event than that of a believable actor. Maybe it was playing an
iconic computer game character, or the undue attention the press gave
her love life, maybe it was appearing in forgettable vehicles like
Beyond Borders {2003] or Taking Lives {2004], whatever,
Jolie’s movie roles placed a far second in the public eye and even her
turn as the bitter, wounded assassin in the excellent
Wanted {2008}
didn’t create a momentum that lasted. It is then a relief to those who
held out hope that in the deft hands of the venerable Phillip Noyce, Ms.
Jolie has once again found her groove, playing a trapped super spy with
nowhere to turn.
Evelyn
Salt has suffered for her country; the opening sequence showing the
slender blonde having her face rearranged and taking an unwanted sip, of
water in a filthy North Korean jail gives us a peek into the life the
young CIA operative has accepted. Even her marriage to the love of her
life, her gentle scientist husband, was the result of a spying
operation. Still, Ev seems at peace with her work and happy to
celebrate her anniversary when one last minute assignment just screws up
her whole day. A mysterious Russian national waltzes into the CIA’s
cover operation with a tale to tell. Luckily, they have a Russian
speaker on hand and that would be… you guessed it. The disheveled Red
spins a yarn that seems wholly useless until he gets around to informing
those on hand that the president of Russia will be assassinated, and not
only is the killer in the building, but she’s the nice lady who just
offered him a pack of cigarettes. She is the shining star of a Russian
experiment to train children practically from birth to infiltrate the
American way of life and act as sleeper agents ready to do Mother
Russia’s bidding when activated. As would be expected of any national
security agency worth their… salt, this announcement causes a bit of a
panic that sends our heroine hightailing it MacGyver-style through the
streets of Washington DC, first to try to rescue her now-imperiled
hubby, while simultaneously trying to save herself and get to the bottom
of this insanity that’s exploded around her.
Handling herself like the illegitimate child of James Bond and Indiana
Jones, the beauty of Salt is in how perfectly cast Ms. Jolie is.
Previously occupied by such cinematic goddesses as Linda Hamilton,
Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Yeoh, it’s as if Jolie has finally
ascended the action throne that’s been waiting for her but she’d fallen
short of since those silly, lacklustre Tomb Raider movies. When Jolie
throws a punch, I believe it. When she leapfrogs across the tops of
high-speed vehicles on a highway to finally careen away on a pilfered
motorcycle, I’m with it. When she finesses her through a tight squeeze
only sexiness can get her out of, it makes sense that it’s her. Regal
and aloof in Cossack furs or steamy and furious in black page boy and
long trenchcoat (cos it’s a spy film), or warm and vulnerable as
the blonde bride, Jolie is a match for the chameleon Salt needs to be
and up until it’s all laid out before us, Noyce keeps the audience
guessing as to which side she’s really on.
Bravos
all around for the abundance of actual, honest-to-goodness stuntwork in
Salt; the car crashes and hair-raising, breakneck pursuits that take us
from Washington DC onto the Bolt bus to the streets of New York City.
How they were able to film some of those demolition derby scenes on the
narrow highways above Astoria, Queens has got me. Like a truly
effective movie stunt, the crunching impacts look like they really hurt,
as Salt, handcuffed with no way out of a police car she’s hijacked,
flies off an elevated roadway headfirst into parked cars. That feeling
of being boxed in is prevalent throughout Salt and it’s part of the
thrill of watching this lone woman with all the forces of at least one
superpower government against her claw, run, punch, kick, shoot and
detonate her way to survival. Mentioning action deity Hamilton is also
serendipitous as I couldn’t help but laugh out loud whenever a certain
refrain from Salt’s score would pop up during some of the more intense
action scenes that was a dead ringer for the unmistakable mechanical
chugging theme announcing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s intent to commit
mayhem as the Terminator. In her seeming inability to stay hit or
suffer any of the aches or pains associated with finding oneself in the
midst of explosions, gun battles, car plunges or running for miles in
bare feet without losing a breath, Salt is like a Terminator. Had it
been a guy playing this unstoppable creature who has never had a side
stitch or shin splint in their life, I would have thrown a shoe at the
screen, but Jolie sells it. Not only because she’s believable in her
handling of the role’s amazing physicality, but because you want the
character to get through it. She manages somehow to create sympathy for
this killing machine, more so than many of her male counterparts in
similar ‘invincible’ roles. Because we’ve seen Jolie be only too happy
to kick the bucket in other films, we don’t know how Salt will end up
until all the cards are on the table -- or all the matryoshka dolls are
opened up -- and that is part of the fun of Salt, an action thriller
that actually thrills.
Regarding the rest of Salt’s cast; Liev Schreiber is sardonic and
brilliant as ever as Salt’s once-supportive partner, who seems as
mystified and betrayed as anyone once her actions give him no choice but
to believe his eyes and not their long-standing friendship. I would
have liked more ‘civilian’ scenes between him and Jolie as they both
share a canniness to their readings and senses of humour. I would also
love for Chiwetel Ejiofor’s agent to put him in a movie where his
character actually knows what’s going on: Once again (as in last
year’s 2012), the wonderful Ejiofor plays a guy not given all the
answers, but thanks to the smartly rendered script, turns this doubting
Fed on the hunt for the rogue female agent into more than a cliché. All
that said, this is Jolie’s movie and without overselling it, she kicks
off her high heels and runs with it. A smart, action-packed summer
blast, Salt is the film from Angelina Jolie that audiences have been
waiting for.
~ The
Lady Miz Diva
July
23rd, 2010
© 2006-2022 The Diva Review.com |
