Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Salt (2010)

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-23-2010, 02:53 AM:

Not great, not bad. It should've been better. It definitely tried to be more than it was.

3 out of 5

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 07-23-2010, 09:11 AM:

When does Pepper come out?

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 07-28-2010, 08:59 AM:

Very watchable well paced movie. Problem was it was damn silly especially with an increasingly skinny and bony Angelina Jolie looking totally unconvincing in some of the action scenes. It was laughable how they show her beating up all these guys with her bare hands without even any advantage of some special technique. At least in WANTED, they filmed her in angles that made us suspend disbelief at least temporarily. Put on some freaking weight , Jolie.

Another thing that annoys me about Jolie these days is how she is posing in each shot as if the director told her that it is a shot for the movie poster or something. Even in scenes where they show her blending in with crowds, she acts in such a suspicious manner with her eye movements and facial expressions that even Stevie Wonder could pick her out of a crowd.

The movie has enough sense to be less than 100 minutes long.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-28-2010, 11:39 AM:

I think this movie would have done better if it had a less-confusing title and something other than just Angelina's face on the poster. It IS summer after all...the season of mindless entertainment.

I know what you're saying: What about Inception, it's not "mindless." Well, I think that if that whole advertising campaign had just been based on an extreme closeup of DiCaprio's mug, it probably would have grossed less.

Posted by Tony Gallimore (Member # 5358) on 07-28-2010, 08:21 PM:

One of the reviews I took in before viewing the movie compared it to a Bond movie with Angelina Jolie taking Bond's place. Nah... although it was full of action and mayheim, it was a little beyond believable. I just couldn't see Angelina nor James surviving some of those stunts. I wasn't expecting too much, and that's what I got.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 08-21-2010, 08:19 PM:

Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is a present-day CIA "Mata Hari"; a desk-jockey saboteur at the top of her game who is highly respected by her superior. That is until a Russian defector walks in and accuses her of being a Red State sleeper agent. Suddenly the super spy is the office pariah and running for her life. It's a day in the life of a CIA agent, I guess.

Jolie is one of the few actors in Hollywood who can pull off action flicks as well as high drama. Just look at her last two films: Timur Bekmambetov's Wanted and Clint Eastwood's Changeling. To put into perspective the value of Jolie to this movie, just imagine Milla Jovovich in the role. Noyce would have to throw in a few undead just to lift the interest factor above comatose. Of course, Jolie's stunning good looks helps also.

The film starts with what appears to be a major logical flaw but which is wholly explained in the end. This is all well and smug but the problem is that we're left to stew on this perceived flaw for the entire duration of the film and by the time director, Phillip Noyce, flips us the answer we've already convinced ourselves that the premise is ridiculous. This is a difficult position for the audience to come back from. It is to the films credit, however, that the pace is so fast throughout that we have little time to interrogate any further flaws and we can just go along for the ride which, admittedly, is entertaining enough.

The action is suitably thrilling and heroic as befits a movie of this kind, if a little par for the course. Parallels to the Bourne franchise are obvious as they are to Renny Harlen's The Long Kiss Goodnight, but Salt lacks the gravitas of the former and the sheer fun of the latter.

What we're left with then is a run-of-the-mill action flick which nicely fills a cinematic gap while we're waiting for Piranha 3D.

7 out of 10.