Salt (Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber) - Grading & Discussion

[Aragorn]

As a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt swore an oath to duty, honor and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture. Salt's efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives, as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues and the question remains: "Who is Salt?"

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbkQTB-OJsk[/yt]

The good reviews:

It's like a rebuke to all the lousy action movie directors who've been banging pots and pans together in our skulls. It winds your clock tight and the alarm doesn't go off for 100 minutes.

Salt is primed to keep your pulse racing so your brain will stop thinking, "WTF!" Go with the illogic or you'll miss the fun.

Noyce rolls up his sleeves and delivers an unpretentious piece of action-movie craftsmanship that proves worthy of its star's own consummate professionalism.

Noyce's methods of crafting suspense are defiantly old-fashioned: low-angle shots for maximum viewer disorientation and a preference for daredevil stunt work over CGI cheating.

The bad reviews:

There comes a point when it becomes difficult to take Salt seriously. That would be fine if this was an intentional parody of action spy thrillers, but it's not.

Why is Angelina Jolie starring in a Jean Claude Van Damme movie?

It's easy to figure out what Salt is. But who is she? That's a question the film never really seemed interested in answering.

While the plot is outlandish, it unspools with obvious twists and turns. The film has its tense moments, but instead of dazzle, there's a workmanlike quality to the action sequences.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

Saw her at comicon today she looks amazing! Probably will wait fir DVD though.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Rottentomatoes.com gives it a 55% rating, not that many enthusiastic/positive reviews. Such movie reviews, however, should be taken with a grain of salt.

But I still would like to see it.

 

[auntiehill]

Meh. It doesn't look like anything I haven't seen before, so I'm not exactly dying to see it.

 

[Wynterhawk]

Nothing about this looks new or interesting and I'm so tired of seeing her face. Let's get something new!

 

[Brikar99]

Pretty lame. No interesting characters, and not even any particularly memorable action sequences. It looks like Jolie is pulling off some sweet moves, but it all gets lost in shaky photography and fast editing. There's about 5 minutes of plot (seriously, I could describe it in detail in three sentences, tops) and then it leaves the ending wide open for sequels. It feels more like the pilot for a TV series than a movie. And not a particularly good one.

Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor somehow manage to be boring, and they're both actors that I like immensely. Jolie barely has any dialogue in the movie.

Just a limp movie all around.

 

[Aragorn]

Roger Ebert gave this movie FOUR STARS!

 

[bigdaddy]

There was a lot of talk about if this or Inception would be big this weekend. Salt has almost nothing gonig for it, I think it will be a bomb that falls off the radar quickly if it was ever on the radar of most people anyways.

 

[Captain Craig]

I just got back in from seeing it and rank it EXCELLENT.

Does it emit tones of Jason Bourne, yes but then Jason Bourne emits tones of James Bond and both are good series.

The fact that SALT isn't OMG brand new and 100% original does not detract from it being a well put together movie.

True, a seasoned moviegoer will see some things coming. I count 2 I saw coming before they happened. The execution was still sound though.

Not everyone is going to be in the mood for a mindfuck of a movie in Inception despite some water cooler talk. This is a fun movie and my 12:20 matinee was half full in a 300 seater so it should do well. Does it bet Inception, we'll see.

 

[Admiral2]

Average.

The plot itself might have been interesting if they'd gone with their original intent and cast a male as Salt. Instead they had Angelina Jolie and her lips jumping around like Batgirl. There was no suspense and most of it was utter shite. (They tried to disguise Salt and her lips as a guy at one point. Guess what gives her away?)

 

[T'Baio]

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun Times wrote:
Why is Angelina Jolie starring in a Jean Claude Van Damme movie?

Am I the only one who think that sounds awesome?

 

[T'Baio]

The plot itself might have been interesting if they'd gone with their original intent and cast a male as Salt.

I'd like to hear why. Otherwise, that just sounds really sexist.

 

[Admiral2]

The plot itself might have been interesting if they'd gone with their original intent and cast a male as Salt.

I'd like to hear why. Otherwise, that just sounds really sexist.

Because I'd find it more believable that some strapping male actor could take out half the CIA and half a Russian sleeper cell and impersonate a male officer without looking like a big-lipped waif doing it?

Sexist or not on my part, it would have been more believable. I might think differently if I was watching Ghost In The Shell, but I wasn't.

 

[Aragorn]

^ Well the actor attached to Salt for the longest time before Jolie was Tom Cruise, which would've just been him doing the first Mission: Impossible plot all over again, only with wall-to-wall unbelievable action sequences.

 

[Admiral2]

^ Well the actor attached to Salt for the longest time before Jolie was Tom Cruise, which would've just been him doing the first Mission: Impossible plot all over again, only with wall-to-wall unbelievable action sequences.

By strapping I meant strapping, not Scientology midget. So I guess I would have hated Cruise.

That doesn't make me feel better about Big Lips.

 

[Aragorn]

Well from the looks of things, hate comes easy to you.

 

[Sanji Himura]

I intended to vote Above Average, however when I was scrolling down, I accidentally pushed the average button.

+ A solid action movie that captures the spirit of spy movies made in the 60s-80s.
+ Jolie's casting was a brilliant stroke of genius. It broke the mold on what a stereotypical spy should be.
+ All of the suspense is predictable, however, if you went in there expecting a mindless action movie, then you are in the wrong movie.

- It does remind you of a JCVD movie. While it is not a bad thing overall, the movie does fit the mold of what an action movie should do, and thus it is predictable.
- Jolie's casting is a double edged sword. Jolie doesn't have much ability acting, and it shows here. Not much, mind you, but enough to get your attention.

 

[Gryffindorian]

I just got back from the theater tonight. I gave it an Average rating. The story could've been written better. I'm not saying it's an awful movie, but definitely one of Angelina's better ones. A fast-paced spy action movie with a convoluted plot and a WTF ending. Did I mention the story could've been written better?

 

[Admiral_Young]

I've no interest in seeing the movie but the score is fantastic.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Salt opened with a mediocre $36 million in second place. Inception opened in #1 for a second weekend in a row with a fantastic $43 million, down only 30% from last weekend.