Reviewed by Kate Rodger
Angelina Jolie has been busy playing mum, but she’s now back at work and on a big screen near you in Salt.
Hollywood decided the Russians can still be mined for spy movie material, and gave Australian director Philip Noyce (The Quiet American/Rabbit Proof Fence) lots of money and Jolie star power to make a movie about a CIA agent accused of being a Russian spy.
There’s been much talk about the lead character in Salt originally being for Tom Cruise, before Edwin Salt became Evelyn Salt, and Angelina Jolie was signed for the role. She’s hankered after Bond for some time, and this was her chance to give the spy game a crack.
Evelyn Salt is happily married, and works as a CIA officer. One day a Russian defector changes all that, accusing her of being a Russian sleeper spy. She’s left with no choice but to go on the run to prove her innocence, and her friend and collegue Ted (Liev Schreiber) is tasked with bringing her in.
Talented British actor Chewitel Ejiofor plays fellow agent Peabody, who is no friend of Salt’s, and all three play a high-octane game of cat and mouse, as the layers of truth and lies are pealed away.
We’ve seen what Jolie can do with the action genre in the Tomb Raider movies and Wanted, and while this role isn’t as stylized it’s clear she embraces the whole running, shooting, fighting thing. She makes for a believable enough spy, and may now be wishing she had a better movie to flex those spy muscles in, as Salt sure ain’t it.
I think the major problem here is the tired premise. We’ve seen so many Cold War and post-Cold War Russian spy stories that coming back for more seems just plain silly and at the very least out-dated. The action sequences themselves are entertaining enough, but the twists and turns are nothing surprising, and certainly nothing we’ve not seen before. I started clock-watching half way through, and that’s never a good sign.
Two and a half stars.
Salt
:: Director: Phillip Noyce
:: Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Yara Shahidi, Gaius Charles, Zoe Lister Jones
:: Running Time: 100 mins
:: Rating: M - Contains Violence & Offensive Language
:: Release Date: August 18, 2010
:: Trailer: Watch here
