Angelina Jolie stars in 'Salt' as a CIA superspy
In her new movie 鈥淪alt,鈥� Angelina Jolie is outfitted in blond wigs, black wigs, jumpsuits, pantsuits. She can appear eerily strait-laced in one scene and goth in the next. She鈥檚 probably the most dynamic action star in the movies right now and certainly the most exotic.
In 鈥淪alt,鈥� she鈥檚 playing a role that originally was meant for Tom Cruise; I don't lament the switch. The part could just as easily have been set up for Matt Damon. Although the principal filmmakers 鈥� director Phillip Noyce, screenwriter Kurt Wimmer and cinematographer Robert Elswit 鈥� seem to have had a 鈥淏ourne鈥�-style franchise in mind, their film is a bit too wiggy and perverse for that.
It鈥檚 also unapologetically a throwback to cold warriorism. Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA undercover superspy first seen in flashback being tortured by her North Korean captors 鈥� just to set the film鈥檚 temperature. (All in a day鈥檚 work.)
Two years later, in Washington, D.C., where Evelyn is cozily ensconced with her doting German arachnologist husband (August Diehl), she is named as a Russian spy by a Russian defector (Daniel Olbrychski), who also warns of an imminent assassination attempt in the US against the visiting Russian president.
Denying the accusation, fearful for her husband鈥檚 safety, Evelyn flees the CIA鈥檚 dragnet and spends much of the rest of the film slicing, dicing, blasting, garroting, slithering down elevator shafts, falling out of planes, and doing high-rise backflips onto speeding semis. And all of this without so much as a smirk. She鈥檚 not even afraid of spiders.
Despite the fact that Evelyn鈥檚 calisthenics, at least at first, are propelled by her love for her husband, she鈥檚 not a romantic. She鈥檚 too glac茅ed and otherworldly for that. Jolie resembles here, as she did to an even greater extent in the 鈥�Lara Croft鈥� movies and 鈥�Wanted鈥� and 鈥�Mr. and Mrs. Smith,鈥� a supersized action figure. There鈥檚 an animatronic blankness to her features (even allowing for the fact that Evelyn must always be wary of revealing her true emotions).
Paradoxically, this blankness makes her more compelling than the usual action emoter because we are never quite sure what she鈥檚 up to or when she鈥檒l explode. Evelyn is almost preternaturally cunning 鈥� in less than a minute she can fashion a wastebasket and fire extinguisher into a lethal weapon 鈥� but she doesn鈥檛 appear to need any time to machinate. Provoked, she turns into an instant destructo machine.
Noyce made his Hollywood name with the Tom Clancy adaptations 鈥淧atriot Games鈥� and 鈥�Clear and Present Danger,鈥� but in recent years he showed his real worth as an artist with such films as 鈥淩abbit-Proof Fence鈥� and the Graham Greene adaptation 鈥淭he Quiet American,鈥� featuring one of Michael Caine鈥檚 two or three best performances.
In 鈥淪alt,鈥� he does a commendable job as a director-for-hire, especially in the action scenes, although the flashback sequences are stiff and there鈥檚 an undue amount of exposition involving CIA and Russian operatives standing around explaining the plot to us. Even though good actors such as Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor are doing the explaining (or disinforming?), they鈥檙e essentially just taking up space. What we really want to see is Evelyn, that new-style Mata Hari, do her drop kicks.
(Speaking of casting, why is Andre Braugher, a great actor, given a glorified walk-on as the US secretary of Defense? He鈥檚 ranked high in the billing, so much must have been left on the cutting-room floor.)
Although Middle East terrorism is cited at one point, 鈥淪alt鈥� could easily have been conceived in the 1960s. There鈥檚 something oddly comforting about this 鈥� just as, in a way, the recent discovery of Russian spies living double lives in the US harked back to a (seemingly) simpler time. I鈥檓 not trying to champion Commie nostalgia here, but the filmmakers might be.
At a time when the real world of modern global terrorism inserts itself into even the most comic book-style escapades 鈥� 鈥淭he A Team鈥� anyone? 鈥� it鈥檚 no wonder that political action filmmakers are looking for ways to heat up the screen without giving audiences real-world nightmares. Casting about for new villains, Hollywood has settled on a safe solution: Bring back the old villains.
The only thing missing from 鈥淪alt鈥� is Lotte Lenya鈥檚 Rosa Klebb with her steel blade-tipped shoes from 鈥淔rom Russia With Love.鈥� Come to think of it, the Russian defector here does indeed kill with steel-blade shoes. Nice touch. Grade: B (Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action.)
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