Ryan Kavanaugh Strikes Agaiin
Movie:
Salt
Date Posted:
Aug 08, 2010
Critic Rating:
6/10
Director:
Philip Noyce
Release Date:
Jul 23, 2010
Review:
SALT
Directed by Philip Noyce
Written by Kurt Wimmer
Produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Sunil Perkash
Director of Photography: Robert Elswit
Music by James Newton Howard
Studio: Relativity Media
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Starring:
Angelina Jolie
Liev Schrieber
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Also starring:
Andre Braugher
Daniel Pearce
Same Ol’, Same Ol’
I knew this would happen… I have not watched an Angelina Jolie film in a theater since Mr.& Mrs. Smith. And I wasn’t too keen on seeing that because, at the time, I was still upset over the whole Pitt-Jolie-Aniston triangle.
Let’s give the girl her props. When Angelina first broke out in Gia I, and everyone else, knew a star was born. Not to mention Girl Interrupted, a film in which Jolie’s portrayal was so spot-on one would think that she was playing a mere extension of herself – same with Gia. She was perfectly cast as Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Jolie was swift, hot, and bad-ass. She was young, striking to behold, very mysterious, and anti-establishment. Not to mention she is of Oscar winning ilk (her father is Jon Voight), the girl was destined for greatness.
Then, Jolie did something an actor should never do; she drank the Kool-Aide. She became a “movie star.” From her well documented weirdness, and her home-wrecking to her very publicized adoptions and humanitarian efforts, Angelina became more about public perception and less about movies.
Gone is the exuberant misfit with beauty and might to match. Now all that remains is a carefully calculated robot at the mercy of a paparazzo’s flashbulb and a publicist’s perfectly measured dictum.
Thing is when you watch a Jolie film you are forever bluntly aware that you are watching a Jolie film. This is only one of the reasons why Salt is such a characterless movie. Along with the confusing plot, the one dimensional characters, the crap subplot, the run-of-the-mill action sequences, the bad acting, and the even worse dialog.
Evelyn Salt, played by Jolie, is a happy wife who works for a petroleum company that is really a cover for C.I.A operatives. Salt’s world is turned upside down when a Russian spy named Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski) names Evelyn as a mole who will assassinate the Russian president. Also present during the interrogation is Salt’s colleague Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) and Peabody, who doesn’t seem to have a first name, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, an official assigned to root out rogue C.I.A. agents.
As Orlov tells his tale, Peabody and Winter, through brain scams, see that Orlov is telling the truth. Salt adamantly denies being a mole and it becomes clear that she is being set up. Thus begins the drive for Salt to clear her name and find out what happened to her husband.
What follows is a series of preposterous happenings such as ***SPOILER ALERT, SPOILER ALERT*** extracting venom from a poisonous spider in order to fake assassinate the Russian president. Director Philip Noyce – Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger is obviously a capable director of these types of films but always seems to be at the mercy of his lead actors. Harrison Ford was at least engaging, believable, and two-dimentional. Salt is none of these things.
Kurt Wimmer, who is steadily becoming the world’s most annoying screenwriter, gives Jolie absolutely nothing to work with. She is written as an expressionless, heartless, spineless, tease. And that goes for the supporting characters as well. It’s a cold day in movies when even Chiwetel Ejiofor is bland and bothersome and Liev Schreiber is just as drab as Jolie.
Jolie doesn’t even act anymore. She is all lips no heart. I’m pretty sure Noyce’s only direction for her was to use her lips first act second. Even James Newton Howard’s score is tired and uninspiring.
The plot is confusing and laughable at best. And why does Russia always have to be the bad guy? I thought Tom Clancy ran this premise dry. Salt would have been better had it not taken itself so seriously. Bottom line is if you want to watch Jolie in an action movie rent Tomb Raider or Mr. and Mrs. Smith or even Wanted. Yeah, she plays basically the same character, but at least those movies are entertaining.
I should’ve run when I realized this was a Di Bonaventura picture. Jolie should have run too. One of the cheap lines in the movie is when Salt is trying to get away. Just before she jumps down onto a moving truck she mutters, quite saucily, “I didn’t do anything.” Yes, you did. You made a crappy movie.
Quote of the Day
"If one is not enjoying one's present, there isn't a great deal to suggest that the future should be any better." -George
A Single Man