The first fifteen minutes of Salt had me rolling my eyes. The direction it seemed to be going in was inane. During an interrogation, a soviet spy reveals that one of his fellow Russian spies plans on assassinating the Russian president in order to take down the United States (you read that right). That spy’s name is Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie), the same CIA agent who’s interrogating him. Immediately, tension is in the air as nearly every CIA agent present begins questioning whether or not Salt is a mole. You know, because this random spy that popped out of nowhere couldn’t have learned her name and been using it against her. They’re not trained to do that!
Only one person has a sane mind frame to doubt this theory. That would be Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber), a colleague and friend of hers. He tries to convince Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to at least hear her out, but he has a job to do. They agree to interrogate her, but complications with the soviet spy that infiltrated the headquarters distracts them and gives Salt enough time to escape. At the looks of it, Salt was going down a road of ineptitude.
Then something happened. A change in the air, so to speak. Salt started to make sense. The previous preposterous actions were starting to make sense. Or at least were handled in a way that made them seem prudent. Best of all, Salt started to become fun.
All thanks go to director Philip Noyce, who handles the absurd script written by Kurt Wimmer with polish and a good grip. By adding little trinkets of wisdom, the absurdities that have so far been plaguing the film now seem obsolete. They're not, mind you. But they're much easier to swallow. Having Ted Winter be the voice of reason helps out a ton, as his fellow agents' gullibility was dumbfounding. Helping out even better, especially for those nitwits who believed Salt was a traitor right off the bat, is the fact that Salt ran from the scene of the crime.
This could have easily put the nail in the coffin for Salt. Instead, Noyce leaves a sense of mystery in the air. Why is Salt running? Is it because she is a traitor? Or maybe she feels she or her husband, Mike Krause (August Diehl), are in grave danger? Having no time to waste, she flees the scene of the crime in hopes of saving her true love before it's too late. Or maybe she just deeply cares about her dog, who she makes sure is taken care of, first and foremost.
Salt is no slouch when it comes to the game of cat and mouse, either. She escapes the headquarters by spraying each and every monitor with a fire extinguisher. Then, with the assistance of a few chemicals and a table leg, converts said fire extinguisher into a makeshift grenade launcher, taking out a few adversaries and clearing an escape route for herself. Once in the city, she dodges the cops by hopping on top of a Mac truck in the middle of a busy highway. When the authorities catch up with her, she leaps onto another truck, followed by another one. Think of it as a game of Frogger. Except, instead of avoiding the vehicles, she hops on top of them. It's pure pulp, and it's pure fun.
But a few extravagant action sequences can't salvage the nonsensical plan to destroy the United States, right? Sure, you'd be right. Noyce knows this and takes immediate precautions. It turns out assassinating the Russian president is only a distraction. Once the world's attention is driven to it, they'll strike and kill the American president as well. The plan doesn't stop there, but going further into it would ruin the movie.
Making the movie's pace flow even smoother is by revealing Salt's intentions midway through the film, as opposed to saving it for the end. In doing this, Noyce allows himself to go all out with the action and story, as opposed to holding it back. A few more twists and turns are still abound, with a few being a bit outrageous. Those are tranquilized thoroughly, though. So no harm, no foul.
Salt was extremely lucky in having a director such as Philip Noyce at the helm. He has an unusual knack for making the outrageous seem plausible. I can't explain how he does it, other than the aforementioned trinkets. Even with that, he adds a special blend of finesse that is unmatched by any other director.
He can also direct some magnificent action sequences. The truck hopping and makeshift grenade launchers aren't the only interesting stunts. After finally being arrested, Salt breaks free from the CIA's grasp once again by knocking out the officers in her cop car and then, and stay with me here, she commandeers the vehicle by using a stun gun to jolt the driver into pushing on the gas and using his head to steer. She does this all in handcuffs, by the way.
With all the praise I've been giving Noyce, I have left out the star of the show, Angelina Jolie. It should be no surprise that she has the look and feel of an action star, as this isn't her first rodeo. With that being said, she hasn't been able to fully show off her capabilities until now. The closest she came was in Wanted, but James McAvoy overshadowed her. Here, nobody is taking her spotlight. She shines in the spotlight and handles the action sequences like a champ. It's almost hard to believe Tom Cruise was originally placed in her role (under a slightly different alias, obviously). She seems like such a perfect fit, that imagining anybody else in her role would be blasphemous. It's like thinking of Ripley from the Alien saga being played by someone other than Sigourney Weaver.
Salt looked to be going down a road of idiocy. Philip Noyce then took full control of the wheel, turned the car around and drove into a land of wonder. A land where preposterous speculations and methods seem plausible. Where the action is exhilarating and extravagant. Where the mind wanders when in need of a good, no holds barred adrenaline rush. Even when it is wacky and beyond belief, Salt is a ton of fun.
-Justin Oberholtzer
