ANALYSIS:

One day, a Russian spy walks into an oil company office building which is actually a front for the CIA.  He says he has information on a Russian mole that is going to kill the Russian President.  He names the spy as CIA agent Evelyn Salt.  Salt goes on the run as she tries to rescue her husband and supposedly stop the assassination.  Is Salt telling the truth by saying she isn’t a spy not raised by the Russians in some secret spy school?    Is she a Russian spy waiting to strike like so many other agents waiting for orders?

SALT has plenty of action, but it is a barely coherent mess that doesn’t flesh out the material into a fully enjoyable ride.   If you want to see Angelina Jolie do plenty of action stuff, you’ll enjoy the film.  Kurt Wimmer is behind the script for the movie, but I wonder how the film would be if he directed instead of Phillip Noyce.   SALT has good actors in a film that needed more to flesh it out instead of a connect-the-dots to the next action scene film.    I wondered if Angelina signed on this film to feed her inner action junkie.  I love Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor, but SALT wastes their talents by having a script that doesn’t develop their characters enough. 

By watching the Unrated Director’s Cutand the Unrated extended Cut, the theatrical cut just is a result of not being the best edit of the film.  The unrated Director’s Cut is an improvement over the theatrical cut.   The Unrated Extended Cut has a great ending which doesn’t fit in with the rest of the film and ultimately doesn’t make sense even though I love that ending the best.   The two other cuts of the film features different fates for a couple of characters from the theatrical cut.

SPECIAL FETAURES:

Audio commentary by Director Phillip Noyce joined by members of the crew.  Noyce details the evolution of the film's script and how Angelina Jolie got involved in addition to various details about the production.  It is a very extensive track.

THE ULTIMATE FEMAL ACTION HERO-   all about the star of the film, Angelina Jolie

SPY DIGUISE: THE LOOKS OF EVELYN SALT-    a look at the various looks that character during the course of the film

FINAL ANALYSIS:   SALT has a good thriller pace.  I didn’t like how the theatrical cut played out and the Director’s Cut improves on it even though some characters are still left as ciphers.

This DVd review is ©12-27-2010 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com