We watched Salt last night, and even though an onset of migraine gave me a mild photophobia (sensitivity to light) which forced me to wear sunglasses inside the cinema, it didn’t make the movie any less enjoyable to watch for me. But then again, I have always been a fan of Angelina’s action movies. She’s hot! Oops. Did I just sound like a guy? But seriously. While I was watching her last night, I was thinking, if the roles she and Jennifer Aniston play are anything like how they are in real life, then I can’t blame Brad Pitt for choosing her. Oops again. Totally not condoning cheaters here as I was once a victim of one, but then again, there are some facts that are just way too obvious to contend with.
So anyway, Salt is actually the last name of the main character, Evelyn Salt, who is played by Angelina. She is a CIA agent who is married to an arachnologist. On the day of their wedding anniversary, she is on her way out of headquarters when she is told that a Russian defector named Orlov has been detained and she needs to interrogate him. So she questions him and he tells her about “Day X,” a Russian program which involves training Russian kids to become spies and implanting them in the United States by having them take over the identities of Americans, patiently waiting for the day when they are called to fulfill their mission. He says that one of these Russian spies have been assigned to kill the Russian president during the American vice president’s funeral and that this spy is named Evelyn Salt.
She steps outside the room and asks her colleagues to let her speak to her husband. She tries to contact him, to no avail. As she paces inside a secure room, waiting for them to interrogate her, Orlov is escorted elsewhere but overpowers his guards and escapes. To the CIA’s utter surprise, so does Salt. Does this mean she’s a Russian spy after all? Her comrade Winter refuses to believe this. We follow Salt on one exhilarating chase scene after another as we contemplate the questions: is she who she says she is? Whose side is she on, anyway? She had the drop on him, so why didn’t she shoot? Where is her husband? Why does she still look hot even as she garbs herself in unsexy men gear? Some questions get answered, but then some don’t.
And while some people may argue that there were a lot of plot holes and unbelievable scenes, blah blah blah, I have three words for them: “suspension of disbelief.” This is an action movie, guys, not a documentary! My friends and I all definitely enjoyed it, so much so that we started spinning ourselves as the movie’s characters and jokingly referred to Dengs as “Spice,” the spy who would do something on National Day (which is on Monday). Totally kidding, SG government, in case you’re reading this. 😮
Some trivia: the script was originally written with Tom Cruise as the lead, but he eventually turned it down because the role was too similar to his Mission Impossible role. So they rewrote the character into a girl. All stunts were done by Angelina herself. How cool is that? My favorite scene was when she was being led away in chains but she still managed to kill a certain guy (no spoilers for this part, at least) by jumping on the other side of the banister, the chains wrapped around his neck. Awesome! It was worth a watch even just for that. Though of course, if you only watch that, it would probably not make any sense at all. So I suggest you get off your bum and watch the movie, while I’ll get off mine and find myself the arachnologist who will make me do what she did. Not jump banisters, silly, just go watch the film and you’ll understand what I am trying to say. 😀
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