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OBS at the Movies
SALT Review by Ron Covington
Director: Phillip Noyce Writer: Kurt Wimmer (WRITTEN BY)
CAST Angelina Jolie ... Evelyn Salt Liev Schreiber ... Ted Winter Chiwetel Ejiofor ... Peabody Daniel Olbrychski ... Vassily Orlov August Diehl ... Mike Krause Daniel Pearce ... Young Orlov Hunt Block ... U.S. President Lewis Andre Braugher ... Secretary of Defense Olek Krupa ... Russian President Matveyev Cassidy Hinkle ... 12-Year-Old Chenkov Corey Stoll ... Shnaider Vladislav Koulikov ... Chenkov's Father Olya Zueva ... Chenkov's Mother
Earlier this year I presented a Top 10 segment at OBS dealing with 10 important elements in action movies. Of course these elements are subjective but the movie SALT contained all of the ones I discussed and blended them seamlessly. The elements are:
1) Create a clear cut hero & villain--- 2) Create a Strong Moral component to the characters—-
4) Fast Pace---- 5) Crank Up The Tension--- 6) Time Clock--- 7) Start Off With A Bang--- 8) Major Set Pieces---- 9) Exotic or Glamorous locales--- 10) Climax occurs in a confined space----
SALT concerns Evelyn Salt, a CIA field operative who’s deeply in love with the man, an arachnologist, whose efforts to free her from a North Korean prison save her life. (Start off With A Bang, Clear Cut Hero, strong moral component) Fast forward a couple of years to Salt interrogating a suspicious Soviet defector. The guy claims Salt is a sleeper agent who will assassinate a major Soviet leader at the US Vice President’s funeral. While Salt’s colleagues argue about detaining her, the Soviet defector escapes after killing two CIA agents. (Clear Cut Villain) Salt escapes and is pursued by her colleagues. One believes she’s innocent and the other is not convinced and will shoot her if necessary. All along Salt is trying to locate her husband. This keeps our empathy with the heroine even when we begin to suspect she’s more than she appears to be. (High Stakes, Fast Pace) The CIA goes to New York to the VP’s funeral in hopes of capturing Evelyn. (Crank-up tension, 1st Time Clock) Of course she eludes her pursuers and shoots the Soviet leader and then is apprehended. Salt escapes and meets up with the Soviet defector. What comes next are a myriad of plot twists I won’t get into here but the pacing never lets up and the chase continues. (Major set pieces, a 2nd Time Clock) The big climatic fight scene occurs in the claustrophobic command bunker of the White House. (Climax in a confined space)
As you can see all the major beats of a solid action piece are present in the film so from a writing standpoint all the pieces for a strong story are present. The execution of the piece contains enough internal story logic to keep us engaged. Many of the elements are familiar but this story doesn’t attempt to transcend the genre but rather gives us a satisfying work that entertains. Most of the reveals are expected but because the writer knows the genre so well, this doesn’t hurt the film.
One important note about character is that Salt’s motivations are explained through action rather than some clunky expository speech. We get why she’s doing what she’s doing. There is one brief line that says it all at the end of the film in case you’re still confused. The line is simply, “They took everything from me.” No further explanation is needed.
Ron Covington is a former Disney and Cosby Writing Fellow. Currently with two TV projects and a stage musical in development, he’s added executive producer to his skill set.
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