(PG-13 theatrical release, unrated director's cut, and unrated extended cut on DVD.)
Stars: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Director: Philip Noyce
Genre: Action/Thriller
Angelina Jolie stars as CIA agent Evelyn Salt, who goes on the run when she is suspected of being a Russian sleeper spy. As if we didn't have enough enemies around the globe these days, Salt dredges up the cold war again--an unintentional (you'd think) spoof of the old James Bond versus the Evil Genius bent on taking over, or destroying the world... whichever comes first.
Agent Salt karate chops her way through scores of big, heavily armed men--half a dozen at a time--as if they are so wimpy they can't take a punch from a 120 pound woman, and just drop to the floor, out cold or dead. (The most blatant kind of patronizing and pandering to the rage-against-men fantasies of the hormonally out of control set!)
Funny...I remember some of those fight scenes in movies like Roadhouse, where dudes are repeatedly getting lambasted in the kisser by 250 POUND GUYS, and they just get back up and keep coming back for more! Weird.
Jolie performs these outrageous stunts--each more humanly impossible than the next-- that a real person would end up as flat-as-a-pancake roadkill if she attempted even one. The movie obviously wants you to take this seriously, otherwise she'd be wearing a mask and a cape. I suppose if you're in the right mood, you can just go with it--willing suspension of disbelief and all that--and I've been slap-happy enough to do that with many films, where it's obvious they're winking at you and asking you to just play along. But there is nothing tongue in cheek here, and to buy into Salt on any kind of serious level, you'd at least need a modicum of believability.
Nearly everything about this film is ridiculous...and naming the main character "Evelyn Salt" should be your first clue.
Grade: D -
