Follow @screenit

"SALT" (2010) (Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber) (PG-13) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Mild Heavy Extreme Heavy Extreme Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Heavy Moderate Extreme None Heavy Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Moderate Minor Extreme Heavy Extreme QUICK TAKE: Action: A cat-and-mouse chase ensues when a CIA operative is suspected of being a Russian sleeper agent who will soon be activated to assassinate the Russian president on American soil. PLOT: Evelyn Salt (ANGLEINA JOLIE) is a CIA agent who has been fingered by Orlov (DANIEL OLBRYCHSKI), a scheming Russian defector, to be a sleeper agent trained by the former Soviet Union. Forced to go on the run, her CIA colleagues Winter and Peabody (LIEV SCHREIBER and CHIWETEL EJIOFOR) try to ascertain her true motives even as she leads them on a cat-and-mouse chase that leaves a lot of destruction and makes her look very guilty. On one level, we suspect that Salt wants only to get back to her husband, Mike (AUGUST DIEHL), who has gone missing. At the same time, she suspiciously travels to New York City where the U.S. President (HUNT BLOCK) and the Russian President (OLEK KRUPA) have come together to pay their final respects to the recently deceased U.S. Vice President. After Salt assassinates the Russian leader, the world is thrown into chaos, and anti-American sentiment starts to run rampant on a global scale. Sensing the ideal time to strike, Salt, Orlov, and another Russian sleeper agent named Shnaider (COREY STOLL) plot to gain access to the White House where they will kill the Commander in Chief and steal the country's nuclear codes. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Teens will likely be drawn to the film's action-thriller elements and Angelina Jolie's star power. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For intense sequences of violence and action. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: ANGLEINA JOLIE plays a CIA agent who has been fingered by a scheming Russian defector to be a sleeper agent trained by the former Soviet Union. Forced to go on the run, her motives seem to shift throughout the film from wanting to protect her seemingly innocent husband to needing to prove her innocence to effectively carrying out a plot to murder the Russian president on American soil and then become involved in killing the U.S. president and starting a nuclear war. She is an efficient killer who is quite violent and extremely resourceful. She has no problem telling lies or stealing to suit her own needs. LIEV SCHREIBER plays Salt's colleague and closest friend at the CIA. He can't bring himself to believe that Salt is a turncoat Russian agent and does his best to help bring her in alive. Ultimately, though, he has no other choice but to believe that Salt is indeed a traitor, which throws his own loyalties into question. He can be a violent man when forced and often has a condescending attitude towards those around him he deems inferior. He uses profanity often. CHIWETEL EJIOFOR plays a CIA agent tasked with stopping Salt before she carries out her mission. He is a straight-laced leader type who asserts his authority in crisis situations, but is outwitted by Salt time and again. He can be violent, though, and twice is shown striking Salt while she is in restraints. He uses curse words probably more than anyone else in the film. DANIEL OLBRYCHSKI plays a man who masquerades as a Russian defector only to put an insidious plot into motion involving Russian sleeper agents he trained years earlier in the former Soviet Union. His plan involves murdering both the Russian and U.S. Presidents and making it look like the United States launched a nuclear attack on the Arab world. He is a killer without compassion who lives only to see his Mother Russia rise again. HUNT BLOCK plays the American president, who vows war and reprisal if the attacks on America are revealed to be the machinations of the Russian government. AUGUST DIEHL plays Salt's German husband, an expert on insects who Salt once tried to romance as part of a mission but ended up falling in love with him. He is captured early in the film, and his fate is up in the air until later in the film. COREY STOLL plays a trusted military advisor who is really a sleeper agent who uses his White House credentials to detonate a bomb inside the President's primary residence. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this action thriller that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of at least 1 "f" word, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. A woman is seen in her bra and panties (nonsexual in nature), and later uses the latter to cover a camera. Violence consists of people being shot, punched, kicked, and blown up, while others are manhandled or threatened with weapons. Some of that has bloody results, while there are numerous scenes and moments of potential peril that could prove unsettling and/or suspenseful for various viewers. Bad attitudes are present, as is some potentially imitative behavior and various thematic elements. A child who has lost her parents at a very young age factors in quite prominently. Some drinking is also present, and there's brief tobacco content. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, all sorts of camera movement (often quite bouncy as the film features multiple foot-chase sequences) occurs throughout the film. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Two bottles of sealed wine are visible in the kitchen of Salt and her husband. An open Heineken beer bottle is shown next to a partially eaten sandwich. Salt, Orlov, and several Russian agents all drink a vodka toast. Salt later uses a bottle of vodka as a weapon. BLOOD/GORE Salt's face is bloodied and some bruising is apparent on her body as she is interrogated and tortured in a North Korean prison. A number of people get shot, stabbed, punched, kicked, and otherwise maimed throughout the film, but there are a lot of cutaways to blood being spilled in order to maintain the PG-13 rating. For instance, often when someone is shot in the film, they are shown wearing dark clothes minimizing the blood effect. Cleaned up for her prisoner exchange, one of Salt's eyes is still swollen shut and her face bears other wounds from her brutal stay in a North Korean prison. There are at least two flashbacks throughout the film to around the time of her release in which Salt's facial wounds remain visible. A minor amount of blood is shown in the aftermath of Orlov stabbing and shooting two CIA operatives in an elevator. In the bathroom of a bar, Salt treats a bloody hip wound with a feminine hygiene product. The Russian president has what appears to be a mildly bloody chest wound after Salt has shot him. During a flashback, we see a very young Salt whose face is severely bruised and whose head is wrapped in bandages, the result of being a passenger in the car crash that killed her parents. Shnaider bears a permanent facial scar both as an adult and in flashback sequences that show him as a child training in Russia. Salt is punched in the nose, which causes her to bleed profusely down her face. The blood then seeps all over her shirt. Winter is shown with a fairly bloody face wound at the film's climax. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE The North Koreans water-torture Salt in an effort to get information from her. Winter belittles a lower ranking coworker who treats him with respect and admiration. Peabody and Winter keep a bag over the head of a defector until they are ready to interrogate him. Salt breaks into a vending machine selling feminine hygiene products and steals a tampon. Salt steals clothes from a random hotel guest without her knowledge. Winter talks down to a Secret Service agent when talking about Presidential security details. While evading capture on the streets of New York, Salt steals a hat from a store's sidewalk sale display. Shnaider lies that he has shrapnel still inside his body from combat when in fact he really has had explosives surgically inserted into him. Rogue Russian agents plot to assassinate the Russian president on American soil, then break into the White House, kill the U.S. President, gain access to his nuclear codes, and launch an attack on the Arab world in a plot to destroy the United States. Peabody twice hits Salt while she is in restraints. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence," "Blood/Gore" and "Jump Scenes" may be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. The North Koreans torture Salt in an effort to get information from her. We see water being forced down her throat through a tube until she gags. For those with a fear of heights, there is a sequence where Salt climbs out of her apartment window to avoid capture and tip-toes along a very thin ledge high above the street below. A funeral service in which the U.S. and Russian presidents are in attendance is attacked by Salt, who we have come to suspect is a Russian sleeper agent. The sequence is rendered especially unnerving when Salt shoots up the cathedral's organ and it loudly gets stuck on a certain key. A suicide bomber strikes inside of the White House. Salt scales a deep elevator shaft, jumping from side to side and looking for footholds where possible before eventually sliding down the rest of the way. A traitor in the President's inner circle is revealed late, who then shoots up an underground situation room leaving only the President alive and the nation's nuclear arsenal armed and ready to be fired via computer control from that room. GUNS/WEAPONS American and North Korean troops are shown carrying guns at a checkpoint as Salt is exchanged for another prisoner. Some archival footage of children carrying rifles and other firearms is shown as Orlov relates the story of how the Soviet Union once trained sleeper agents from the time they were young kids. Archival footages show Lee Harvey Oswald posing with the rifle he supposedly shot John F. Kennedy with. Orlov wears shoes that conceal knives that he eventually uses as weapons. Orlov takes the gun of one of two men he has just beaten and stabbed and shoots both. A CIA tactical team is dispatched, all carrying rifles and various firearms, to apprehend Salt within a CIA facility. Salt uses a fire extinguisher, trash can, and parts of various office equipment to improvise an explosive device, which she eventually fires at multiple CIA agents. Salt takes one of the guns of a knocked-out CIA operative. Multiple CIA agents descend on Salt's apartment with guns and rifles drawn. They detonate percussion grenades before entering, which blow out several windows once detonated. Multiple agents pursue Salt on foot through the streets of D.C., all brandishing their guns. They eventually surround Salt, who continues to carry the gun she swiped earlier, and they train their guns on her. Salt unpacks in her hotel room, and her bag is shown to contain multiple guns. Salt carries at least one gun and is armed with explosives as she mounts an assault on a church in which the Russian president, the U.S. president, and hundreds of others are grieving the deceased U.S. vice president. Multiple police officers, Secret Service agents, and other security personnel are shown armed with guns as part of a massive security detail at the church. At least one nearby rooftop is shown to have government snipers. Salt and Peabody have a brief standoff, pointing handguns at one another. When Salt declines to shoot Peabody, multiple agents rush in carrying various firearms and violently force her to the ground before arresting her. Salt uses a taser-like weapon on a police officer transporting her to prison. Prior to his suicide bomb attack inside the White House, Shnaider grabs one military officer's sidearm and fires multiple shots. Secret Service agents return fire, hitting the traitor just before he remote detonates the explosives that have been surgically placed inside of him. Salt grabs a handgun in the confusion and eventually uses it as a weapon. Soon after, she also picks up a rifle from an incapacitated Secret Service agent and uses both weapons to try and shoot through a window of bulletproof glass. She rigs an explosive device to eventually gain access to the room. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "F*ck!" "Someone interrogate that piece of sh*t," "This is bullsh*t!" "Brilliant bullsh*t," "Get your G-damn panties off the camera!" "Pan the G*ddamn camera!" "Put the G*ddamn gun down!" "Go to hell" and "Nut-job." Some more impressionable viewers may attempt to perform some of the more acrobatic kicks, punches, and stunts seen in this film. Winter belittles a lower ranking co-worker who treats him with respect and admiration. Salt runs across several lanes of bustling downtown D.C. traffic as do various agents pursuing her. Salt climbs out of her apartment window to avoid capture and tip-toes along a very thin ledge high above the street below, eventually knocking on the window of a friendly neighbor who allows her to re-enter the building. Salt runs out into open traffic once again. Salt jumps from a bridge onto a moving 18-wheeler truck to avoid capture. She then jumps from that truck to a moving oil tanker truck and then onto the roof of a smaller truck. Salt knocks the driver of a motorcycle off his bike and steals it. Salt breaks into a vending machine selling feminine hygiene products and steals a tampon. Salt steals clothes from a random hotel guest without her knowledge. As a distraction, Salt sets a small fire on the New York subway. Salt jumps from her subway car while the train is still moving. While evading capture on the streets of New York, Salt steals a hat from a store's sidewalk sale display. Salt tries to gain access to the White House using a disguise and false ID. Salt scales an elevator shaft, jumping from side to side and looking for footholds where possible before eventually sliding down the rest of the way. JUMP SCENES Those with a natural fear of spiders may jump when they see the very large tarantula and other spiders -- all behind glass -- that Salt's husband has on display at their apartment. As Orlov is being transferred within a CIA facility, the camera cuts to a sensor light turning very loudly and quickly from red to green. To evade CIA capture, Salt jumps suddenly from a bridge to a moving 18-wheeler, then proceeds to jump from the tops of two more trucks. An out-of-control police SUV goes careening off an overpass and lands front first hard on the concrete below with Salt in it. Without any warning or advance build-up, Shnaider loudly declares his true intentions and then blows himself up inside of the White House. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) An extreme amount of very tense and intense music occurs in the film courtesy of James Newton Howard's score. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 1 "f" word, 11 "s" words, 2 hells, 1 damn, 8 uses of "G-damn," 2 uses of "Jesus Christ" and 1 use each of " God forbid" and "Oh my God." SEX/NUDITY The film opens with Salt in a bra and panties being interrogated and tortured in a North Korean prison. Salt and her husband share a long kiss good-morning. Salt reaches under her skirt and takes off a pair of black panties, which she then places over a surveillance camera. Winter sees this on a security monitor and orders via microphone for Salt to "get your G-damn panties off the camera!" Flashbacks throughout provide some quick glimpses of Salt and her husband's romantic courtship, including some brief kissing. Salt sometimes strikes alluring poses as she is fighting. Salt and another Russian sleeper agent stare longingly at each other through bulletproof glass, with Salt telling the traitor they would be "so good together" if he would just trust her. SMOKING Salt places a pack of cigarettes on an interrogation table in case her subject wants a smoke. He doesn't. TENSE FAMILY SCENES It is revealed that Salt's parents were killed in a 1988 car crash in Russia that left her orphaned. During one flashback, we see her as an injured child in the immediate aftermath of the accident, as she is preyed upon by Orlov who recruits her into the life of a Russian sleeper agent. Salt escapes CIA custody and frantically tries to make it back to her apartment to warn her husband that his life is in danger. When she gets there, she sees there have been signs of a struggle and he is no longer there. It is revealed that many of the Russian sleeper agents are actually former orphans from the homeland. SPOILER ALERT: Salt watches her husband shot and killed just a few feet away and must not show any emotion or compromise her cover. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT The likelihood that foreign sleeper agents have possibly infiltrated our own government. The history of the Cold War. The JFK assassination and whether Lee Harvey Oswald could have been a Russian sleeper agent. Current Russian-U.S. relations. Hostilities with North Korea. Terrorism. National security. VIOLENCE The North Koreans roughly manhandle Salt, slam her to the floor of a prison, and then torture her by forcing water down her throat through a tube until she gags. During a flashback sequence, we see a school of Soviet-era Russians practicing aggressive wrestling moves on a large mat. The extended flashback also features a series of still shots and some video detailing the Kennedy assassination in November of 1963. Orlov reveals that he is wearing shoes that conceal knife blades in their tips, which he uses to stab two CIA operatives assigned to him. He also kicks, punches, and knees the men, then takes one of their sidearms and shoots and kills them both. Salt uses a fire extinguisher, trash can, and parts of various office equipment to improvise an explosive device, which she then fires at multiple CIA agents who have come to apprehend her clearly injuring most of them. CIA agents detonate multiple percussion grenades inside of Salt's apartment before entering, blowing out most of the windows. Salt jumps from a bridge and lands hard on the roof of a moving 18-wheeler truck to avoid capture. She then jumps from that truck to a moving oil tanker truck and then onto the roof of a smaller truck. The driver of the third truck slams on his brakes and sends Salt flying off the roof and into a windshield. Salt knocks the driver of a motorcycle off his bike and steals it. Salt beats at least two security officers in the bowels of the New York cathedral where the Russian president is eulogizing the U.S. Vice President. She foot-sweeps, kicks, and punches them and actually shoots the third one in the leg. To create confusion, she also shoots into the controls of the church's massive organ, causing its notes to stick as she sets her explosives. Salt detonates the explosives causing the Russian president to fall through the floor of the church. She then shoots him, presumably killing him. She is then captured by multiple Secret Service agents who throw her to the ground and handcuff her. Salt violently roughs up two cops in the backseat of a moving SUV. She renders one unconscious and throws another one off the vehicle. She then uses a taser-like weapon on the officer driving the vehicle, and his spastic reactions throw the car into reverse and forward causing multiple accidents. The SUV eventually falls off the side of a bridge with Salt in it and lands hard on a street below. Salt emerges uninjured. SPOILER ALERT: A Russian agent shoots Salt's husband in the chest at point blank range, killing him. Salt takes a vodka bottle and smashes it over the face of Orlov. She then stabs him multiple times with a large shard of the bottle, steals several firearms and grenades, then proceeds to shoot and blow up the other unsuspecting Russian agents in nearby rooms. Salt recalls being beaten with a cane as part of her training as a child to be a Russian sleeper agent. Shnaider roughs up at least two White House security members and exchanges gunfire, before blowing himself up with explosives that have been surgically placed inside of his body. Trying to get to the U.S. President who is being rushed to a bunker underneath the White House, Salt gets into multiple violent fights with Secret Service agents and other military personnel. She generally gets the drop on each of them, fighting them one on one and sometimes two on one. The fights are generally hand to hand, consisting of Salt first knocking the weapons out of the various guards' hands, then kicking and punching them into unconsciousness. She shoots at least one in the leg. Down in the bunker, a traitor is revealed among the President's inner circle, who grabs weapons from a surprised Secret Service agent and shoots and kills everyone in the room -- at least a half-dozen people -- except for the President. The traitor then beats the President until he is unconscious. Salt and the traitor have a shoot-out in the bunker, eventually running out of ammo and getting into a fistfight. Salt is punched in the nose, manhandled, and slammed hard onto a table. She fights back with a series of martial-arts-style kicks and punches. Eventually, the Secret Service breaks in and shoots her (she's wearing a bulletproof vest). Soon after, she uses the chains she is in to choke and kill the traitor, who is once again perceived as a good guy by those not in the know, by hanging from a staircase while wrapping the metal links around the traitor's neck. Peabody twice punches Salt hard in the face aboard a helicopter while questioning her. Salt breaks free from her restraints, punches Peabody and others aboard the helicopter, and then jumps out of the aircraft to land hard in the Potomac River below. Reviewed July 20, 2010 / Posted July 23, 2010

Other new and recent reviews include:

Privacy Statement and Terms of Use and Disclaimer
By entering this site you acknowledge to having read and agreed to the above conditions.

All Rights Reserved,
©1996-2016 Screen It, Inc.