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"SALT"
(2010) (Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber) (PG-13)

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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.

OUR TAKE: 4.5 out of 10
Don't believe anyone who tells you the new action flick, "Salt," is the heir apparent to the Jason Bourne movies or that Angelina Jolie plays the new female James Bond. It and she are wannabes, plain and simple. And while the film does feature several humdinger action sequences and some excellent cinematography by Robert Elswit of "There Will Be Blood," "Syriana," and "Magnolia" fame, "Salt" is all show and very little tell. It needed less of the former and a lot more of the latter to succeed.

Jolie stars as Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent with a twisted back story. Her parents were both killed in a car accident in Russia that she survived in 1988. Orphaned as a child, it's unclear whether her time in the former Soviet Union in the waning days of the Cold War had any undue influence over her. It certainly could have once a defector named Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski) walks into the offices of the CIA and fingers her as a Russian sleeper agent about to be assigned to assassinate the current Russian president (Olek Krupa) on American soil.

Salt immediately goes on the run. First, we think she is fleeing because she fears for her husband's safety. When it becomes clear he has been taken by someone, she then heads to New York where the Russian leader has come together with the U.S. President (Hunt Block) for the funeral of the U.S. Vice President. Is Salt carrying out the assassination attempt to get back with her hubby? Or is she really the ice-cold double agent Orlov claims her to be? It's up to Salt's CIA colleagues Peabody and Winter (Chiwetel Ejiofor and Liev Schreiber) to uncover the truth.

"Salt" is pretty much all chase flick and very little exposition. The film moves so fast, it doesn't want you to think. The problem is the film becomes SO far-fetched, you can't possibly turn your brain off and buy into its dizzying pace and twisting, turning storyline. At issue is the film's first act. It's too good! Rather than open with some outlandish piece of action and set the tone for silliness early, the film roots its story in reality. We open on Salt being brutalized in a North Korean prison after being discovered as a spy.

Flash forward two years later, Salt has been exchanged for another prisoner and she has gone on to recover from the trauma and marry her German boyfriend, Mike (August Diehl). Then, Orlov shows up, and Salt gets involved in a terrifically tense foot chase through downtown Washington, D.C. She's forced to think on her feet and use her wits, trying desperately to get back to her apartment and warn Mike.

That's good stuff! But then, all concerned take idiot pills and suddenly turn Salt into a superhero who can leap from bridges to moving trucks, survive long falls from highway overpasses, easily gain access to the most heavily guarded locales on the planet, and beat the heck out of dozens of trained Secret Service agents and CIA operatives all the while vamping like she's in Madonna's old "Vogue" video.

The film becomes laughable really quick. Even worse, it appears that at least a good 15 to 20 minutes has been cut out of it to keep the action going strong. Jolie doesn't really provide us with a rooting interest because we're never quite sure if she's good or bad. The film's flashbacks do little to provide any depth to the character, we don't get the benefit of a running internal monologue, and the character doesn't share her ordeal with a confidante. She doesn't have anyone to bounce her feelings off of or noodle strategy through or simply crack wise with.

And how do I know a good 15 or 20 minutes was sliced? Simple. I look at the actor who is billed fifth in a lot of the film's marketing materials. The great Andre Braugher, Emmy winner for "Homicide: Life on the Street," a current Emmy nominee for "Men of a Certain Age," and a co-star in such films as "Poseidon," "Frequency," and "The Mist." The man plays the Secretary of State in the film. He doesn't show up until very, very late. And he has a grand total of two (!) lines. There had to have been more to this than chases, shootouts, and Jolie winking at the camera. There just had to!

Ah well. I was all stoked for a fun and involving spy thriller. Instead, I got a flick that is going to play like a Farrelly brothers comedy if they show it in the screening rooms at Langley. The fact that this remains such a dismal summer for good escapist popcorn movies just rubs this "Salt" in a very raw wound. I give the film a 4.5 out of 10. (T. Durgin)




Reviewed July 20, 2010 / Posted July 23, 2010


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