Cinema Verdict Review: Salt

Salt

OPENING: 07/23/2010

STUDIO: Sony

RUN TIME: 100 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Who is Salt?

Opening Statement
I have to admit, the trailers for Salt didn’t exactly inspire much excitement in yours truly. It looked like a fairly typical action film rooted in a typical “innocent person wrongly accused” plot; a bit of generic noise to fill a gap in the summer movie season. I’m glad to have been proven wrong. Salt is one of the loopiest films of the summer, but also a tremendously well-crafted thriller and a grandly entertaining experience.

Facts of the Case
Angelina Jolie (Changeling) plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA Agent who’s been given the task of interrogating a Russian spy claiming a desire to defect to the US. During her interview, the Russian suggests that there is an assassination being plotted by a mole within the CIA. He claims that this mole’s name is Evelyn Salt. The interview grinds to a halt, and Salt’s superiors demand that she be put into custody until the matter can be examined further. Not willing to sit around and answer questions, Salt makes a run for it and attempts to escape the grasp of the CIA and FBI while simultaneously looking for a way to clear her name. So begins a tense, action-packed journey to a surprising finish line.

The Evidence
It becomes clear rather quickly that Salt is a film that has been dipped in a giant vat of crazy sauce. We realize this as soon as the Russian defector fills us in on a super-secret Russian program which brainwashes orphans and trains them to become sleeper agents in America. Apparently, the man we know as Lee Harvey Oswald was actually one of the first notable members of this particular program. This plunge into territory that even Oliver Stone might find over-the-top is only the beginning of the eyebrow-raising developments Salt has to offer of the course of its lean 99-minute running time. This much must be said: this movie is neither formulaic nor predictable.

The director is Phillip Noyce, a talented guy whose work includes serviceable Hollywood fare (Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games, The Bone Collector) and ambitious dramas (Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Quiet American). While Salt isn’t on the level of the latter two films, it represents Noyce hitting an all-time high as an entertainer. The action scenes in the movie are crafted with remarkable skill and precision, steadily increasing the level of tension and excitement as the film proceeds. There’s a refreshing amount of professional nuts-and-bolts craftsmanship on display, as the scenes are largely staged without the aid of CGI or silly special effects. It’s such a nice change of pace to witness an action movie in which the presence of computers is almost entirely unfelt. Real stuntwork, real sets and practical effects are the name of the game in Salt, and these elements are being employed by a director who knows what he’s doing.

The film was originally intended as a vehicle for Tom Cruise, who would have been wise to stick with it. Salt proves considerably more enjoyable than Cruise’s limp summer action/comedy Knight and Day, though it’s doubtful that Cruise could have managed to be as enigmatically compelling in the lead role as Angelina Jolie. It’s a treat to witness the actress handle this material; she’s effortlessly confident and undeniably effective as an action star. Actors are traditionally called upon to show us what they’re feeling, but Jolie’s task in Salt is to make us question whether what’s she emoting is honest or an act. The film’s ad campaign has been built upon the question “Who is Salt?” That’s a question you’ll keep asking yourself for quite a long while.

The show belongs to Noyce and Jolie, but both receive crucial support from a host of talented supporting cast and crew members. Liev Schrieber (Defiance) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men) are both crisply professional in their roles as government agents attempting to capture Salt and get to the bottom of the mystery. Oscar-winning Cinematographer Robert Elswitt brings an exceptional level of visual flair and atmosphere to the sort of film that usually doesn’t receive such treatment. Composer James Newton Howard delivers an exceptionally exciting score which does a nice job of adding to the film’s sense of momentum.

Closing Statement
I can certainly see why someone might come out of Salt shaking their head at what they had just witnessed. The film is unapologetically mad, as Kurt Wimmer’s screenplay often feels like it was written by an insomniatic 15-year-old in 1985 (I mean that in the best possible way). Even so, I was thrilled to witness a film that managed to blend such fine technical merits with a delightfully unconventional plot. Most of the folks at my screening were chuckling happily at the film’s conclusion, which I believe is precisely the reaction the film is aiming for. So grab a bucket of popcorn and add some Salt. Odds are you’ll have a good time.

The Verdict
8/10

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