Movie Review: Salt

Angelina Jolie puts forth another great performance in the movie Salt, and in my opinion it is one of the coolest movies of the season. It was a well-thought-out story full of twists and turns. Unlike Inception, however, it wasn't a fantasy of the human mind and its intricacies. It dealt with a few hard realities and events that could actually happen, if the right folks put their minds to it.

Salt is based on the premise that Russia has a group of assassins who are trained from a very young age for one thing: to infiltrate the White House and take over completely. While it is, in reality, a little far-fetched, it is not at all outside the realm of possibility. In fact, the movie may be a real eye-opener to some viewers.

As the movie progresses, the audience is never quite sure if Angelina Jolie's character, Evelyn Salt, is one of those trained assassins or not. She works for the CIA and because of that, we see that her job could be both a great cover for her true motivations, and also that claims of her being a Russian spy could be a load of hogwash conjured up by a few rogue Russian officials. It is not until the very end of Salt that we finally find out what the reality is, and in my opinion it was done creatively and tastefully.

Some of the stunts were a little far-fetched, I thought, but were still very entertaining to watch. Most of the stunts are shown in the previews, such as when Jolie is hopping from truck to truck at full speed on the freeway, but such is an action film. It didn't detract from the story, so I suppose they were acceptable. Also, I didn't feel that her lifestyle as a CIA operative would allow her to have such awesome skills on a motorcycle, but she knew how to ride one very well, anyhow.

All in all, I felt that Salt was a good flick, with a few points of incredibility. As I said, there were some twists and turns that this viewer did not see coming, and so the movie did its job. It was entertaining.

It is rumored that the man she stole the motorcycle from was actually Brad Pitt himself making a cameo appearance, although I have not been able to either confirm or deny it. Just an interesting tidbit, at this point. I would have to give the movie 3 ½ of 5 stars. It wasn't the best feature I have seen in my life, but surely not the worst. Seeing the show would be a good way to spend with a date on a Friday night, if one was so inclined.