Salt (2010); spy thriller action drama film review

Poster artwork for the spy thriller action film Salt.

Secretive Salt by Linh

Since working together in 1999’s The Bone Collector, Australian director Phillip Noyce and Angelina Jolie re-team for the action spy thriller Salt, about a CIA agent named Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) who is accused of being a Russian spy. Their latest film opens with scenes from two years ago where a female is shackled and tortured by North Korean officials who claim she is a spy. The accused woman is a Russian native with an American identity, Evelyn Salt, working for the CIA. Evelyn is set free after North Korean President Kim Jong il agrees to a deal with the United States.  Fast forward to the present day, Evelyn is married to a spider-scientist named Michael Krause (August Diehl) whom she met while on an assignment in North Korea. When suspected Russian spy agent Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski) is arrested and questioned, his claims of the Russian President’s (Olek Krupa) assassination at the funeral for the American Vice President, sparks suspicion surrounding Evelyn’s true identity.

SPY SCREEN: Ted (Liev Shreiber), Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Evelyn (Angelina Jolie) watch a Russian spy in the interrogation cell in the film Salt. Image: Columbia Pictures.

The film cleverly manipulates the audiences’ trust in lead character Evelyn Salt, as her own allegiances towards America and Russia change back and forth. National Counter-intelligence officer Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) suspects Salt to be an embedded KGB spy from Russia and pursues her relentlessly. Salt maintains her questionable characteristics through to the end with a delicious twist involving her CIA partner Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber).

RUSSIAN ROGUE: Evelyn (Angelina Jolie) claims she is not a Russian spy in the film Salt. Image: Columbia Pictures.

The story features a brief and sad personal backstory of Evelyn Salt and her involvement with the Russian spy operation who recruited children, and train them to become super-spies in the United States by taking top-level jobs in government and homeland security departments when they reach adulthood.  The flashback sequences give an insight into Salt from her childhood through to the present as she continues to evade capture. It reveals she is stuck between her love for Russia and America, resulting in a vengeful and pragmatic outlook on life.  Salt may betray one to honour the other and above all, she will kill if she is betrayed.

AMBIGUOUS ASSASSIN: Evelyn (Angelina Jolie) kills indiscriminately as she avoids capture in the film Salt. Image: Columbia Pictures.

The lead characters are all fully-fleshed out with some surprises that go against personality type, and the reversal and transgression of gender roles throughout the film, keep the audience guessing all the way to the end. Angelina Jolie appears incredibly agile and swift on her feet in all the action/fight scenes and carries the film with consistency and ease. Most male action heroes may rely on muscle-power to portray their character but Jolie brings both brains and brawn to her role. Liev Schreiber’s performance as Salt’s CIA colleague Ted, is excellent and equally ambiguous, and he can even dupe the keenest of spy-thriller-philes. The ‘good guy’ in the film is Peabody and Chiwetel Ejiofor gives the character a hard-nosed attitude and hard-edged determination to serve and protect America from attack. His mission may continue with Salt as he drops his guard to place his trust in her.

CO-ORDINATED CAPTURE: Evelyn (Angelina Jolie) is escorted by the SWAT team in the film Salt. Image: Columbia Pictures.

 

Salt is an exciting and controversial action spy thriller that handles its plot points regarding international and foreign relations with Russia, North Korea and the Arab nations with a delicate approach. The anti-Communist sentiment resides in the characters and in the storyline, showing Russian spies in scenes of violent deaths. However, this is seemingly balanced out in the film where numerous American security and CIA officers are killed while protecting the President of the United States. The criticism regarding this so-called balance is apparent when the Russians are killed as they plot to assassinate the American President and spread communist ideology (clearly seen as negative), while Americans are killed when they try to defend themselves against Russian spies and uphold democracy (clearly seen as positive). This may be the intention of the film-makers to appeal to the American mainstream audience, as though this was the only way to portray and represent spies and their threat to the democratic way of life. Further criticism of Salt claims the film has a simplified and generalised view of the Cold War and the icy relationship between Russia and the United States, which is historically and politically more complex than the film depicts.

The film has an open-ended conclusion which enables a sequel to follow, and hopefully there will be more high-energy stunt scenes, gun-firing, bomb-blasting action sequences and the inevitable twists and turns in the film’s plot. A sequel is underway with Angelina Jolie reportedly returning to the lead role and a director is yet to be announced.

 

Director: Phillip Noyce

Writer: Kurt Wimmer (screenplay)

Cast: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski, Hunt Block, August Diehl, Olek Krupa, Corey Stoll, Andre Braugher, Paul Juhn

Producers: Ric Kidney, Mark Vahradian, Sunil Perkash, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Hannah Minghella, William M. Connor, Samuel Dickerman

Cinematographer: Robert Elswit

Original Music Composer: James Newton Howard

Film Editors: Stuart Baird, John Gilroy

Production: Scott Chambliss (Production Designer), Teresa Carriker-Thayer (Art Director), Leslie E. Rollins (Set Decorator)

Costume Designer: Sarah Edwards

Languages: English, Russian with English subtitles

Running Time: 1 hour and 40 minutes