Who is Salt?

I feel truly sorry for the Russians sometimes. Despite having a fierce nationalistic pride, rich history spanned a thousand years, and the determination to be the best at everything, they are always demonized by American media. I admit, the entire Cold War thing did a lot to bias the West towards them and their goals, but all too often their glorious history falls by the wayside as they become typecast as villains, honor-less rogues and maniacal fanatics willing to destroy a world they cannot rule. This became a trend way back when James Bond thwarted Communists in the 60s, continued through the 90s with sleeper agents and comes to a new head in the Angelina Jolie thriller “Salt,” yet another take on the Soviet agent infiltrating the American intelligence community and wreaking havoc on the world political climate.

I was prepared to ignore the film entirely when I heard about it. I had taken my fill of spy thrillers years ago, culminating in the horrible disaster that was “Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever.” Yes, I did watch “Mission Impossible 3,” and the last two Bond films, but I skipped all the “Bourne” movies, and lost interest in “Burn Notice,” mostly because I felt that the spy trend has run it’s course and there was nothing new they could possibly wring out of it. (That, and I was drawn to “MI:3” and Bond for their acting and plot, less than their cliches.)

I went to see “Salt” after seeing a bunch of glowing reviews calling it a solid summer film, action packed and whatnot. I’ve been a bit deprived on that front for a while now, and I had a free night, so I figured “why not?” And after the film had ended, I came away with a feeling of satisfaction and anticipating what they would do next (because they set up for sequels, as they always do).

“Salt” follows a few days in the life of Evelyn Salt, an agent at the CIA. After a setup where we see her rescue from a North Korean detention center, we find her married to one of her field contacts and preparing for her anniversary. What happens next is pure spy cliche- she is “outed” during an interview with a Russian defector, told she was abducted as a young girl, trained to kill mercilessly and transplanted to the US, where she is to get a job working in intelligence and wait for her orders to perform some wicked deed, in this case killing the Russian President. Salt denies all this, then goes on the run, evading CIA, Secret Service, NYPD and a whole mess of others, including her partner and friend, played by a somewhat monotone Leiv Schreiber, while looking for her suddenly missing husband. What happens next would be spoiling to reveal, so I will stop here, because if this isn’t enough to get you interested, then this is not the movie for you.

Much like the Bond films, this one is replete with car chases, explosions, headshots, whole-scale slaughter and a ton of Russians. Evelyn Salt is a “super agent” of death, dispatching all comers with guns, grenades and explosives. She can do anything, break into any place, avoid all detection, escape from any confinement- she is essentially perfect, not unlike James Bond, Jason Bourne, or Michael Westen, and she inspires terror in the hearts of everyone against her. Implausible yes, cliche definitely, but also expertly done. Despite rehashing every spy movie trend of the last 50 years, the movie never feels like a retread, never moves along slowly, and keeps the suspense going for the entirety of its 90 minute run. Flashbacks are interspersed at crucial junctions, highlighting the life Salt knew and showing how she got to this point, with everyone against her.

For her part, Jolie is very competent, channeling a lot from her “Tomb Raider” days into Salt’s resourcefulness and skill in combat styles of all types. She spends a lot of the movie haggard, which is a welcome change of pace from the usual elegance she seems to ooze. The one downside is her facial expressions- they never change. No matter what she is doing, or to whom, or whatever thew situation, Salt always smirks knowingly, teasingly, giving off more than a bit of arrogance. It leads to the character being very one-track at times, and severs a lot of her emotion. While we root for her when she is in a tight spot, she never feels truly worthy of our empathy, rather we root for her “Macguyver-like” skills in improvisation and quick thinking, likely wishing we could perform the way she does, even knowing that it would be physically impossible to do so.

But if one can suspend their disbelief for a moment, they will find “Salt” to be a wonderful diversion from a lot of the usual summer fare, despite it being “typical summer fare” itself. But in a season dominated by Predators, Airbenders, Dreamwalkers and a whole lot of 3D, Salt stands out as an action film, wrapped in suspense and full of questions. Who is Salt indeed?