Salt

The Hollywood secret for a successful action movie? Make it about a CIA spy. The Hollywood secret for generic action screenwriting? Make the villain Russian. ‘Salt’, starring Angelina Jolie, has both of those and the biggest female actress in the world. Yet it never elevates to anything more than low caliber popcorn fare thanks to an absurdly convoluted plot and far-fetched stunt-worked that stretches your suspension of disbelief paper thin.

The plot on paper is actually deceptively simple. We follow CIA agent Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) who’s a highly respected agent in her office led by Ted Winter (Liev Schrieber). But one day, a Russian spy walks into the office to defect. Upon interrogation, he confesses to a crucial piece of information – a Russian spy is going to kill the visiting Russian President in New York and the name of the agent is Evelyn Salt. As the CIA closes in on her after the accusation, Salt is on the run from the law to prove herself innocent and ensure the safety of her husband. Or is she?

From the very first frame, it is extremely clear that Sony wants to establish this as the next spy franchise and is playing very close to what made the ‘Bourne’ movies work right down to the action sequences. And this is followed to such a point that ‘Salt’ ends up becoming a pale imitation of ‘Bourne’ that fails. Why is that, you ask? Well, ‘Bourne’ had a rich plot with a clearly sympathetic and identifiable lead character that we followed through. For the first thirty minutes, ‘Salt’ seems to have the same characteristics and works as a good actioner. But then, it all falls apart very quickly.

From the simplicity of a falsely accused spy on the run to clear her name, the movie suddenly throws all that away and makes its characters does seemingly pointless and uninitiated decisions that have no previous motivation at all. What if you saw Jason Bourne on the run suddenly go rob a bank? It’s an extreme example, but Evelyn Salt does exactly these kinds of things. Add to that an extremely disjointed and convoluted plot and the movie suddenly loses its audience. Now all we are waiting for is what is going to happen next simply because we have no idea what’s going on now. Of course, towards the end an explanation is given for all of the shady deeds that the characters performed during the majority of the film. But unfortunately, these explanations are so absurd and far-fetched that the audience lets out a collective sigh by the end of it.

And the senseless plot is not just it. The action sequences, although fairly well made, have not an inch of originality in them. Every single action scene here has been in a much better movie before and done better. You could literally take out Salt and place Bourne during those scenes and no one could tell you you’re not watching a fourth installment in that series. And it’s too bad since the general audience is willing to forget plot holes if the action is breathtaking. Plus, whatever remains of the action is so over the top and unbelievable that you suddenly feel like you’re in a live action cartoon. Salt can jump from truck to truck on busy highways, beat up dozens of trained CIA officials in single punches, override any kind of security system possible and much more. If they were stealing from the ‘Bourne’ playbook, they forgot the chapter on believable action sequences.

But that’s not to say ‘Salt’ is a very bad movie – it will certainly please Angelina Jolie fans and people looking for escapist summer fare. It has a short runtime and moves along pretty quickly. Angelina Jolie was a much better action actress in ‘Wanted’ where she brought the required intensity. Here, she just gives a half-assed attempt and most of the things she does are unbelievable for a woman of her size. At least ‘Wanted’ was set in a fantastical context while this aims for a realistic spy movie. Liev Schrieber is once again effective in a kind of role he’s used to playing by now. Chiwetel Ejifor was one-note throughout but still ended up being moderately effective by the end.

Overall, ‘Salt’ is a failed attempt to create a realistic spy movie franchise. The cliffhanger ending is a blatant call for a sequel but I don’t think anyone wants more of this. Unless you’re a huge Jolie fan, the ludicrous plotting issues here are sure to turn you off even when the action sequences end up entertaining. Summer escapist fare can also be logical, and that’s one department where ‘Salt’ remains tasteless.

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