Now Playing: Stephanie Zacharek's Video Review of Salt
Movieline's chief film critic Stephanie Zacharek returns to the video front today with a look at Salt -- not the mineral responsible for hypertension and much of the flavor of your favorite processed foods, but rather the crackerjack action film starring Angelina Jolie as a butt-kicking spy whose identity may not be what it seems. Enough of me, however! Take it, away, Stephanie...
<embed
type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
id="player-245622"
name="player-245622"
src="http://www-movieline-com.vimg.net/_/jw/player-licensed-viral.swf"
width="500"
height="282"
allowscriptaccess="always"
allowfullscreen="true"
flashvars="autostart=0&playlist=none&config=http://www-movieline-com.vimg.net/playlists/config.xml?2010-08-24-21-52-24&file=/sz_videos/v2_movieline_sz_salt.flv&image=http://www-movieline-com.vimg.net/images/salt_vidrev_thumb.jpg&plugins=acudeojw,gapro,viral-2&viral.callout=none&viral.onpause=false&gapro.accountid=UA-1915907-26&gapro.trackstarts=true&gapro.trackpercentage=true&gapro.tracktime=true&acudeojw.progId=4af229940e9cc"
/>
Subscribe to the new Movieline on YouTube
Comments
The video doesn't load no matter how long I wait.
I agree this video is not working. I haven't had a problem playing these videos until now. How long do i have to wait for this to work?
Seems to work now...
I'm astonished that several critics I respect are praising this convoluted exercise in ridiculousness.
Noyce's other action movies may not have been brilliant but they were imminently watchable, allowing you to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the action and suspense. This plot is so patently absurd that it keeps waking you up with its sheer absurdity, ruining the immersion.
Why did the Russian trainer, Orlov, come into CIA headquarters to "defect" at all, only to then attack agents in the elevator and escape? What in the world did that accomplish, for anyone? To get the mole Salt running? If she was a mole and was aware of that fact (clearly) then why did she need Orlov's absurd appearance to get her moving? Did the Liev Shieber character benefit in some way from this?
The movie also suffered from a million other tiny absurdities that Noyce's others didn't, for example the idea that you can predictably just punch someone and render him unconscious, cleanly, predictably, and do this over and over without fail. It's the sort of idiotic conceit copied from other movies, not from life.
The contrivances of the plot however as the movie really got going were where it really lost me, they just piled one upon the other until I found myself laughing rather than being able to enjoy the action or suspense.
D minus, for me. Just too silly to enjoy.