Page 16 THE VILLADOM TIMES II, III & IV • August 4, 2010
‘Salt’ is action-packed spy thriller with style
by Dennis Seuling The spy thriller can range from cerebral (“The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”) to high-gloss (James Bond extravaganzas) to spoofs (Austin Powers) and star vehicles (the Bourne trilogy). “Salt,” the new film from director Phillip Noyce, borrows from each of these variations, with a heavy emphasis on action. Viewers first encounter Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) as she is being released as part of a prisoner exchange with North Korea. Two years later, she is married to Mike Krause (August Diehl), a German scientist. She is assigned to a desk job in Washington, D.C., when a Russian defector, Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski), walks into the office. Salt interrogates him and he talks about sleeper agents indoctrinated from childhood and a plan to attack America from within. When he says one of these agents is Evelyn Salt, her superiors, watching and listening to the interrogation, have to take the accusation seriously. Salt’s immediate superior, Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber), and Counterintelligence Officer Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) attempt to detain her for questioning, but she uses her field skills to pull off an elaborate escape. Is she fleeing because she is a Russian counteragent or because she has to clear her name? From this point, the movie becomes an extended chase picture, with Salt eluding capture despite overwhelming odds. She manages some unbelievable, superhuman feats to keep on the run. The character-on-the-run is a plot device favored by master director Alfred Hitchcock. He frequently placed innocent characters in compromising and dangerous situations, leaving them to extricate themselves because they cannot rely on the law to protect them. In “Salt,” the new twist is that it is unclear if Salt is one of the good guys or one of the bad guys. Angelina Jolie is a good fit for the role of Evelyn Salt. Originally written for a male lead (Tom Cruise was once scheduled to star), the film works with a stunning female lead, especially in light of the recent discovery by the FBI of a Russian spy ring living quietly among us for more than a decade that included the redheaded beauty Anya Kushchenko. Never mind that she couldn’t handle weapons, engage in hand-to-hand combat, or jump from bridges onto
Angelina Jolie stars as an American agent with unclear loyalties in ‘Salt.’
moving trailer trucks. Jolie conveys intelligence and ferocity as well as sex appeal, so it’s easy to accept her as both the prim, happily married woman with a nine-to-five desk job and the highly skilled, fearless field agent. More than one sequence in “Salt” strains credibility, but viewers go along for the ride as cars crash, explosions occur, a world leader is set up for assassination, the President of the United States falls into enemy hands, and allegiances are seldom clear. The movie, at a modest 93 minutes, is chock full of action, with a quick pace that doesn’t turn into a blur. Director Noyce stages most of his stunts the old-fashioned way, without benefit of computer generated images, and the overall effect is impressive. Rated PG-13 for violence and some strong language,
“Salt” is for people who enjoy a good spy yarn with some twists and turns that make it unpredictable. Unlike “Inception,” another action film released last month, it won’t require multiple viewings for one to understand what’s happening.
2010
K A S S C H AU
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