Salt Review

In the age of the war on terror, the Cold War seems like a more retro time from long ago. Thanks to some recently uncovered Russian plants in suburbia, Cold War nostalgia got its latest 15 minutes of fame this month. But even Hollywood is going back in time to the days of Russian spies, Soviet plots against America, and Commies working under our patriotic noses. However, Hollywood can do one better in getting Angelina Jolie as a suspected sleeper agent, instead of seemingly average families. With Salt, Jolie puts her one woman wrecking crew act against Americans and Russians alike - no matter what side she's on.

Evelyn Salt is a happily married CIA vet, whose anniversary plans are delayed when a Russian comes forward to allege a conspiracy. Apparently, an old Soviet program to activate sleeper agents in America has been activated, in order to kill the visiting Russian president. What's more, the Russian gives them the name of the plant who will do it - Evelyn Salt. With her loyalty questioned, and with her husband now missing, Salt escapes custody and goes on the run to find the truth. However, the truth about Salt and the sleeper cells goes beyond what even the CIA suspects.

Salt is a throwback in more ways than one, in its subject matter and style. Phillip Noyce, who took on the spy world in Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan films, shoots his action much like the pre-CGI, pre-Michael Bay days. Explosions, CGI and Bay/MTV style editing take a refreshing backseat to Jolie clobbering foes on the run. But it is all in service of a story that may be even more wacky and out there than Inception.

Once the nature of the Russian spy program is disclosed early on - going back to the days of Oswald - Salt only goes more off the rails from there. In the genre of paranoid Cold War fantasies, this premise would have worked quite well as a Reagan-era worst-case fantasy. Yet like many of those films, the crazier it gets, the more enjoyable it gets, just to see how much farther they can go.

The action reflects that 'kitchen sink' mentality, as Salt literally MacGyver's her way out of custody, then goes jumping on trucks at one point, and tasers a man into driving her away at another. Salt gives ample opportunity for Jolie to run, jump, shoot, and fight her way out of trouble, which helps the insanity. For the first half, Salt lives up to expectations as a fun, old fashioned, albeit fantastical ride, with the expected nods to 24 and Bourne.

Then in the second half, Salt goes truly bananas, showing that the wackiness of the first half was just the start. Once they get around to revealing the truth - and then changing it a few more times - it takes the movie into pure insanity. Just when one thinks it can't get any nuttier, it usually tops itself a few minutes later.

There is absolutely no way Salt can hold up as a logical story that makes sense. Yet in a way, it creates the same kind of uncertainty and madness that Inception did. In a time where so many movies are utterly predictable - especially in summer - the last two big releases have left us with no way of knowing where they're going.

Of course, Inception shows the smart way to do it, while Salt has more of a traditional 'turn your brain off' method that can't hold up as well. But although it takes a different path, Salt has the same sense of leaving an audience hanging, and eager to see just how crazy this ride can get. Ultimately, it may finally go too overboard, for the sake of trying to get a franchise started.

Angelina Jolie had enough power to turn Evelyn Salt from a man into a woman, after Tom Cruise fell through - although one disguise may be a nod to that change. Jolie is one of the few female action stars out there who isn't a comic book heroine, although Wanted and Salt are borderline comic books. With her action and drama resume from the last few years, Jolie adds some token credibility to the enterprise, and certainly has her share of bone crunching moves. Yet the crazed twists and turns eventually upstage Jolie, leaving her with less to work with beyond the action. Liev Schreiber, as usual, does the best with what he has as Salt's supportive CIA friend, but Chiwetel Ejiofor is more wasted as the less supportive agent leading the man hunt.

Having Salt and Inception out in consecutive weeks forms quite a double feature. Both go way out there, although Salt does it in just one level of reality. But each film has a fantastical kind of reality, although whereas Inception works overtime to make logical sense of it, Salt throws that right out the window for the sake of action. Still, there's something to be said for how Salt pulls the wool over us, and makes it exciting to see what deranged twist it has next. It may not hold up with a lot of thought, but neither might Inception in the years ahead - though they distinguish themselves from the usual cookie-cutter action in different ways. These days, that is more of a rare thing.