Salt (2010)

Drawn in by the news that the lead role of the CIA operative accused of counter-spying was re-written for Angelina Jolie to take over for Tom Cruise (and that filmmaker friend Julie thought it was good), Jack, Lisal, and I enjoyed this spy/action flick with lots of chases and impossible escapes. More than once I asked, "How is she gonna get out of this one?" New Yorker writer David Denby thinks we won't care, and reveals almost all (as usual) in his spoiler-ridden review. Hollywood.com says (and I paraphrase the first paragraph, which is not a spoiler): this movie has been called "Bourne with boobs," but she keeps them holstered.

Jolie (Oscar-winner for Girl, Interrupted (1999) and nominated for Changeling, some of my other faves were Pushing Tin (1999), A Mighty Heart (2007), and Wanted (2008), which I saw specifically because of the action-dense trailer--I haven't seen her Lara Croft work) apparently did some of her own stunts, and is easy to look at as Evelyn Salt, especially after she colors her hair back to brown in the obligatory makeover (at least that's what Lisal and I thought). Co-stars Liev Schreiber (I wrote a little about him in Taking Woodstock) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (see my post on 2012) aren't bad-looking either. The stunts and effects are spectacular, and I laughed when Salt says "Ow" once early in the movie. Like the heroes in so many action movies, she gets totally battered and bruised but continues fighting and running, with only the single "Ow."

There is a high body count and a ton of violence, but much of the gore is just outside the on-screen frame, perhaps to achieve the PG-13 rating (I can only hope). Prolific composer James Newton Howard (Oscar nominated 8 times, winner of 29 ASCAP awards in 15 years, he has been working since the early 1980's on comedies, dramas, blockbusters, and indies--some of my favorites are Nobody's Fool (1986), Grand Canyon (1991), Dave (1993), Runaway Bride (1999), Mumford (1999), Peter Pan (2003), Batman Begins (2005), and The Dark Knight) brings us great big music to underscore the chases. Here's a clip. I remember being scared by director Philip Noyce's boat-thriller Dead Calm (1989), starring fellow Aussies Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill; his Patriot Games (1992) was great; and I loved his Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), about three little aboriginal girls in 1931. Salt is full of small errors (see this imdb list if you don't care about spoilers) but it's really not supposed to be a documentary. Oh, and Jack would have liked to see Ms. Salt solve the math homework before running back out, but nobody on the production team asked his opinion.

58% average on rottentomatoes is hardly a ringing endorsement, but the box office numbers (this chart will change each week) say it all: in three weeks it's brought in $92 million. It's been a while since Jack and I have seen as many as three of the top five (and five out of ten) box office hits, but as of Sunday that's what we've done.