Review #210: 'Salt' (2010)

Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is happily married to spider expert Michael Krause (August Diehl) and is working for the CIA. When a mysterious Russian is picked up named Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski), Salt interrogates him and he names her as being an undercover Russian spy. Salt's friend and co-worker Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) is sceptical but Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) wants to detain her and question her. Salt manages to escape the building and goes on the run with the two in pursuit. As Salt flees her pursuers, and leaves carnage in her path, Winter and Peabody gradually learn more of Salt's past and must protect the visiting Russian President who they believe Salt has been sent to assassinate.

Action films are generally quite boring. They are very limited in terms of storyline and are always running the risk of doing something that has been done a million times before. The 'new wave' of action films such as the excellent Jason Bourne films, and even the James Bond re-boot have managed to combine generic action characteristics with a certain grit, and therefore injecting new life into the genre. Salt manages to achieve this not in it's action scenes, but in the fact that the main character just may be a bad guy. It's like the revelation in No Way Out (1987) but played out with explosions, hand-to-hand combat, and surprisingly violent deaths.

Okay, fuck it, Salt is a Russian spy. It's revealed early on so I'm not really ruining much. This fact just makes the whole film better. She isn't fighting to protect the innocent, she is fighting in order to ignite a potentially catastrophic war between Russia and the U.S., killing the Presidents of both countries along the way. I was so surprised and delighted with this brave decision that I found myself rooting for Salt, and wanting to achieve her goal. The action scenes themselves are as well choreographed and filmed as you would hope, in that shaky hand-held Bourne vein. A lot of people have complained about it, but I like it - I want to feel the pace and confusion of a fight and I feel it helps place you there. And for a 12-rated film, I was shocked to see Salt smash a bottle on a table and then repeatedly stab someone in the neck with it. Again, delighted.

Yes, it is far-fetched and a tad silly, but it's a bloody action film. Character actors Schreiber and Ejiofor are always reliable and are great in their scenes, and Diehl (of Inglorious Basterds (2009) fame) catches the eye in what is a relatively small role. Even though it does fly off the handle in the last twenty minutes or so, this is a solid little action film, and was a genuine surprise given I was expecting a generic and average shoot 'em up. It's also nice to see director Noyce back on track, given the debacle that was The Bone Collector (1999) and The Saint (1997).


Directed by: Phillip Noyce
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski, August Diehl
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie