Angie Gets Her Bourne

More than just about any other modern actress, Angelina Jolie is truly authentic in action roles. Not since Jodie Foster decided to make a movie about as often as Warren Beatty and Sigourney Weaver gave up killing Aliens has there been a female protagonist as easily accepted as Jolie carrying a big gun.

In pictures such as Tomb Raider, Mr. And Mrs. Smith, and Wanted, Jolie was immediately as credible as any male star on the planet would be in a similar part. The trouble is, none of those movies were particularly good. Mr. And Mrs. Smith was completely disposable, the two Tomb Raider flicks were based on a video game ('nuff said), and Wanted was a soulless movie going experience that made me feel like I needed a hose down after departing the theater. In all four of those movies, Jolie was easily the best thing in them. Unfortunately, that wasn't saying much.

That all changes with Salt. Which is the best pure action film I've seen in a long time.

As the title character, Jolie plays a woman who may or may not (no spoilers here) be a covert Russian spy charged with murdering the President of Russia during a visit to the United States. While this may sound like a very 80's and cold war era type of plot line, the movie caught a break when the recent real life apprehensions of actual covert Russian spies hit the front pages of newspapers just prior to Salt's opening.

Not that the movie is really all that interested in being topical. Sure, Salt positions itself as a paranoid political thriller with several twists and turns, but what it's truly interested in is taking a dynamic protagonist and putting her through 90 minutes (how efficient!) of adrenaline stoking action scenes. While the film is certainly not brain dead, it knows what the people came to see and delivers just that.

Veteran director Philip Noyce has moved back and forth between big budget action movies (Patriot Games, Clear And Present Danger) and artier fare (The Quiet American, Rabbit Proof Fence). Here, he's clearly dealing in the former. However, his direction of the numerous outlandish action sequences (the one in an elevator shaft is a doozy of incredulity), is so strong and assured that you don't spend much time considering how impossible each individual set piece is. It's further proof that sometimes it matters less what you do than how you do it.

That's not to sat that there are no actual themes in the movie. Anyone familiar with the great Bourne movies starring Matt Damon will recognize the identity issues (who is Salt?) and conspiracy aspects in the film. And they're pretty well done here. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the movie kept me guessing about Salt's true motivations up until the last 15 minutes or so. I realize that I should have known better. I mean how bad can you make Jolie out to be in a big budget movie intended to pump out sequels? Still, the character is far more morally ambiguous than you might expect in a big budget action film, and Jolie knows just how to play it.

That's not to say that Salt is a perfect summer action movie. After exiting the theater you may look back on the action scenes as being a bit too much. You will probably find the guy who plays the President of the Untied States to be about as compelling as a piece of bark. There is a plot twist involving Liev Schreiber (Salt's FBI partner) that is credulity straining, and there is also a decision that the FBI agent (played by the great Chiwetel Ejiofor) in charge of arresting Salt makes in the final moments of the movie that I just didn't buy at all. But these are mostly things that you think about after the movie is over. While you are sitting in you seat, these logic stretching moments barely have time to register before you are onto the next high wire exploit of Jolie's Evelyn Salt.

Earlier, I referenced Matt Damon's superior Bourne Trilogy. And while it's true that Salt isn't quite up to that level, it's worth remembering that the first Bourne movie was not nearly as strong as the next two. Once the first film got all of the explaining out of the way, the next two movies were able to focus on Bourne's mission. Salt has every opportunity to do the same.

Like Bourne, Salt has a terrific protagonist, muscular action scenes, and just enough story to make you feel good about yourself while watching a tent-pole, summer action flick.

During a summer of almost relentlessly bad movies, that's more than enough.

Sumo-Pop
July 30, 2010