Salt *** (3 stars)
Director – Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Saint)
Starring – Angelina Jolie, Liev Schrieber, Chiwetel Ejiofor
MPAA - Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action.
The Russians are coming, right back out of the 80’s, and they are as cunning as ever. While this formula might be tiring for some of the older audiences it works well for the younger crowd here in the non-stop action/thriller “Salt”. This one may be overlooked at the box office because it is not full mindless explosion after mindless explosion as the trailers seem to imply. Instead “Salt” is more of a political thriller combined with the ruthless action/violence that made “Taken” such an impressive film.
Anyone who liked “Taken” will find “Salt” at least as impressive. While not at all as brutal as Liam Neeson’s character, Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is still a blast to watch as she takes down anything standing in her way and leaves them lying bruised and unconscious…hopefully (As opposed to Liam Neeson who managed to blow away anyone who considered giving him trouble).
Evelyn Salt (a top notch CIA operative) is accused by a Russian defector (I didn’t know we still had those after “The Hunt for Red October”) of being a sleeper agent for a secret Russian government program. She goes on the run from her counterparts Schrieber and Ejiofor leaving us almost in the dust and as clueless as the cast is to the truth. I can’t give much more away, but the previews for the film really failed to show us what “Salt” was all about, in fact they were downright misleading.
This movie was not as incredible as “Inception” but in a summer run of very average films “Salt” is definitely one of the better ones. It is an incredibly clean film, low on the swearing and nonexistent in the sex category (though Angelina still manages to show us what she looks like in lingerie – even though she is being beaten and interrogated at the time). The action is pretty hard core, but stays safely in the PG-13 range, making us mostly believe that not everyone is being killed.
I found it refreshing to see a throwback to the days of the KGB and the nuclear threat. So many films today beat the middle-east conflict into the ground and “Salt” pays a little homage to the spy thrillers of Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy.
In short “Salt” is not a film you will regret seeing. It is a little over the top in showing Evelyn Salt’s abilities (hoping from the top of one semi to another while bullets graze her), but the action is done in a way that we can still believe the possibility that Salt is just super good at what she does. In fact I have never seen Angelina Jolie take such a ruthless beating while plowing through a high speed thriller like this one. I am not going to say this is Jolie’s best, nor is it this year’s best, but “Salt is a top notch action/thriller that actually manages to surprise the audience and leave them fully satisfied. An 8.5 out of 10 in my book.
Sex/nudity - 2 out of 10 – a husband and wife kiss a few times. A woman in a bra and panties is beaten while being interrogated.
Violence/Gore - 6 out of 10 – This is an almost non-stop action film with a lot of guns, shooting, killing, fighting, and the like. There is limited blood. There are also a lot of car crashes. There are a lot of fist-a-cuffs. Many people are knocked unconscious, some might be killed it is not certain. A man shoots up a whole room of unarmed people, lots of bullets and sparks fly around the room, almost everyone is left dead.
Profanity - 4 out of 10 – 1 muffled F-word (I am pretty sure it was there) , 10 to 20 other mild profanities and religious exclamations.
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