Just another "save the world" action movie'

Rating: 4/10 (24 July 2010)

Salt is an action movie that starts out mysteriously, then turns into a conventional "save-the-world" action hero story. Angelina Jolie plays a female James Bond type--sorry folks, but that's basically all it is--who is involved with some sort of plan involving Russian spies and assassination plots. The first act is a lengthy chase, in which we get to see how resourceful and well trained our main character is. The second act, however, sells her as completely unstoppable as she takes on the entire Secret Service. I suppose we shouldn't even be surprised that the last part of the movie has her infiltrating the White House (she is even able to hot-wire security doors in the President's secret bunker). By this time, what started out as partially mysterious has become a completely conventional action movie, with our hero turning off nuclear missiles at the last moment before they are launched. There are going to be a lot of viewers who are more upset at the ending, which doesn't really unfold like we'd expect, than all the routine, predictable stuff that happens just before. The problem with the last couple minutes of the movie isn't that we don't get the resolution we expect, but that it is edited so choppily. If they had shown the same action happen with a some lingering shots instead of jittery jump-cuts, it could have worked.
The other thing I want to say about this movie is that I read a review by Roger Ebert that made this movie sound really fun. He explained that most of the action is completely improbable, which is true, but he also called it "trash," which led me to believe it might be a little campy and over the top. But no, this movie takes itself very seriously. I don't recommend it.