Salt

Rating: 4/10 (21 August 2010)

I saw the trailer for this film and liked the look of it, from both the leading star and the fact that it looked cool, from director Phillip Noyce (The Bone Collector, Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Quiet American). Basically Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is a respected CIA agent, but that all changes when she is pulled into an interrogation with a Russian spy Vassily Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski) offering vital information. With lie detector technology they conclude that his information of the President of Russia being assassinated is true, but also he says that Evelyn is the assassin, this is also read to be true. Evelyn is now eager to escape claiming to be innocent, and she just about manages it going home to her husband, and then she immediately goes back to being on the run from the authorities. Her boss Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) was originally sure that she was innocent, but he eventually agrees with agent Peabody (Love Actually's Chiwetel Ejiofor) that she should be hunted more severely. Eventually though it turns out that this assassination attempt on Russian President Matveyev (Home Alone 3's Olek Krupa) during the funeral of the U.S. Vice President by Evelyn is true. Through a series of flashbacks we see that she was trained since childhood to be a good Russian spy, and the next thing she does is to return to Orlov who made her what she is. I can't remember completely how it goes, but it turns out that Salt may indeed a good girl going against her Russian orders, and it is actually a double-crossing Winter that kidnaps the President of the United States to launch nuclear weapons. In the end, after saving the day, but being caught and looking like it was her launching the missiles she tries to convince Peabody of what happened, and he frustratingly lets her jump out the helicopter to go on the run again. Also starring Andre Braugher as Secretary of Defense and August Diehl as Mike Krause. Apparently Tom Cruise was lined up to be Salt, but I think it does work better with a female character, especially with one as gorgeous and reliable as Jolie. The story is really a weird combination, it starts like a cool Jason Bourne style chase fest (the best sequences), and then it changes to a Manchurian Candidate style assassin thing, if it could just stick to one style and not confuse so much as to whether Salt is a hero or villain, it might have been a slightly better action thriller, but it's not terrible. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Sound Mixing. Okay!