Angelina Jolie – when isn’t she in the news for something? Be it saving kids, having marital issues, or staring in huge blockbuster movies; she’s always around, so is it any surprise that Salt made upwards of 200 million dollars worldwide? No, not really. Although that may not seem like a lot compared to the standards set by Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, and Toy Story 3 (all breaking the billion dollar mark), but 200 million is still a hefty chunk of change, and it more than doubled it’s budget making it a box-office success. However, box office cash doesn’t necessarily mean it was worthy of making such money. Was Salt a bad movie? No. Was it revolutionary in anyway? No. Was it watchable and enjoyable for the most part? Yes.
That’s the glory with a movie like Salt, it requires just enough thinking on the viewers part in order to make sense of it all, but it also flows in a way that you don’t need to over think – it falls nicely in the middle. I’m sure many of you know what Salt is about. A CIA agent is accused of being a Russian spy who is going to assassinate the Russian president whilst he’s in New York, and thus she runs. Most of the first act of the movie is Salt (or Jolie) running to save herself and get to her husband’s aid. It’s after the first thirty minutes or so that things pick up a bit more, albeit abruptly. I can’t give away too much, as I hate spoiling movies for people, but just be prepared for an abrupt change in the plot.
Although the transition is, as I said, abrupt I can see why the director did it. It’s a retrospect scenario. Whilst you’re watching the film, you think to yourself she’s just running for her life, she’s gonna prove everybody wrong in the end. Right, that would be anybody’s initial thought, it surly was mine. But looking back on the first third of the movie, you realize what she was truly doing. Again, spoilers aren’t anybody’s friend.
The direction, as I mentioned, was clever – the script was well writing enough, and the plot was decent. There are a few twists along the way that don’t seem forced, but are obvious when leading up to them. But if there was one fault to the movie, it is the fact that there are so many twists. Imagine most movies are a straight narrow road, and if the movie is supposed to have a plot twist, there’s one spot near the end of said road that takes a sharp right, doing it’s best to take you by surprise. You didn’t see it coming, but when you look in your rear-vie, you can see the signs. But with Salt, it wasn’t so much straight with a hairpin turn; it was more like winding road with a lot of bends, but nothing really catching you by surprise. With that said, some may like to be on their toes the entire time, not having a dull moment waiting for that big surprise, and i can see that point of view.
Onto what everybody wants to know… How are the stunts, the action, and the performances? I can say with the utmost honesty, I was left feeling a tad underwhelmed. In a day and age where everything, and I do mean everything has a flash factor, Salt was left somewhere in limbo. Nothing stood out, nothing wow’d me, nothing left an impression -it was mediocre. The stunt men may have been at fault for this, well, more like the stunt direction, and it’s a mistake that is in many movies. Why is it that whenever the hero is outnumbered something like six-to-one by professionally trained special operatives carrying guns, the main character always gets away more or less unscathed? And why do the henchmen never shoot? It’s just a peeve of mine that I noticed in Salt especially.
When it’s all said and done, Salt is worth a watch. The story is interesting, the acting is well done – you’d expect nothing less from the quality of talent in the film – and the action is… well there.
Overall, 3 out of 5.