Movie: Salt

• Director: Phillip Noyce
• Release Date:
• Writers: Kurt Wimmer
• Run Time: 100
• Genre: Action, Thriller

Tagline: Who is Salt?

Review: “OMG!” “WTF!?” “Holy sh*t!” Those are just some of my many reactions to Salt while I was watching it. Salt is a surprisingly well-made, enthralling, thriller of a movie. The film has so many good twists and turns, its hard not to be excited about anything that happens in the film.

I suggest to anyone who plans on seeing Salt to throw away any knowledge they thought they knew about the film before seeing it. If you think you know everything about Salt from the trailers and commercials and whatnot, think again. From the trailers, we
e told that the main character, Evelyn Salt, is a CIA agent whom, during the questioning of a Russian spy in CIA headquarters, is accused of being a Russian “sleeper agent” or “mole.” Now shes on the run from the government while trying to clear her name as well as find her husband. Thats the basic premise that we
e given from the films marketing campaign. Man, the films marketing campaign did a very awesome job. The plot from the trailers, which I just explained, was really interesting, and good enough to get a lot of people to go see the film. However, the genius part is whenever these people actually go and view the film- Salt delivers exactly what everyone expects from it… but in its first 20 to 30 minutes. The majority of the film, the 70 minutes after that, is what Salt is truly about.

The majority of the film is amazing simply because you never know whats going to happen. The parts about Evelyn Salt being framed as a Russian sleeper agent, on the run from the government, trying to clear her name and find her husband, are practically all thrown away after the first 20 to 30 minutes – they
e no longer important. During the duration of the film, we continuously run into a multitude of plot twists, and each one leads the main character onto her next destination. All of these plot twists are amazing and shocking in the right way; they
e not badly thought-out twists. Each twist makes us ask a new question, most of which are never really answered by the end of the film.

The action sequences in Salt are also smart and well done. The film isn a typical action film – its more interesting and more fascinating. The writers for Salt have written and co-written many, many action films before (The Bourne Supremacy and Man on Fire). However, the only one Ive actually seen from one of the writers is Law Abiding Citizen, written by Salt co-writer Kurt Wimmer.

Like Law Abiding Citizen, Salt kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Both films are fast-paced and nail-biters, and both change up the action genre. The most important thing that Law Abiding Citizen and Salt both have in common is the fact that both of the films plots are ridiculous and unbelievable, Law Abiding Citizen more than Salt. However, an action movie, or any movie for that matter, doesn have to be realistic to be really good. Salt has amazing action sequences that seem outrageous and unbelievable, which doesn take away from the film at all.

There are only two things that I have to complain about Salt. The film has some clichéd dialogue scattered throughout, though not much, thankfully. Trust me, youll know which lines Im talking about if you see the film – they
e the ones that just don match the tone of the film. Another complaint would have to be against the films character development. Theres not much of that. However, the film doesn necessarily need one. Salt has a super-fast pace, thus there wasn really much room for character development. Also, Angelina Jolies character doesn say much in the majority of the film. Jolie mostly just blows things up, snoop around, and runs around the city and inside buildings without saying a single word. Again, the missing character development portion of Salt wasn truly needed, but it wouldn have hurt to have some in it.

Salt is the second film in a row that Ive loved, and its the second film in a row Ive seen that is practically original; Inception was the other film. Salt is perhaps the second-best action/thriller film this summer, after Inception of course. Its captivating. Its thrilling. Its a nail-biter. Salt has enough twists, turns, “WTF” moments, flashbacks, and so much more to keep you entertain throughout. Just make sure you keep the films tagline in your head while you watch Salt: “You think everyone is who they say they are?” The tagline tells you so much more than you know. Trust m