Monday, November 18, 2013

Monday Movie Madness: Salt

Forget variety, we all know that salt is the real spice of life.  It makes everything taste better, even caramel.  And it makes for a fun action flick too.


I caught this on cable for the second time yesterday while waiting for the slate of football games to kick off.  I'm not claiming this is a cinematic masterpiece, but it was worth watching twice, and that's pretty good for the shoot 'em up genre.

The trailer tells you all you need to know: Jolie is a CIA agent who may or may not be a Russian spy, raised from a child to bring down the evil American empire from within.  After being accused, she doesn't just sit around waiting for counter intelligence to clear her, of course.  No, she starts kicking butt and taking names.  There are various interesting twists and turns, and Salt's ingenuity is fun to watch as well.  I don't care so much how well she can throw a punch, but I do like the tricks she has up her sleeves.  It's one of the things I liked about James Bond growing up, the smarts more than the scuffles.  And there's enough emotion to give it some weight without getting sappy.

I saw this as part of one of those 'DVD on TV' shows, where along with the movie they transition to and from commercials with little behind the scenes vignettes.  The most interesting tidbit I picked up was that this was originally written with a male lead, think Tom Cruise.  Watching the movie with that in mind, it makes you realize just how differently we take in certain things depending on the gender of the main character.  I won't go into spoilery details, but it gave me the opportunity to think about how I would have seen the movie Evelyn Salt had been Edwin Salt.  Personally, I like it this way better.

Do you like action movies?  What makes a good one?  Amaryllis Musings is reviewing another breed of action movie in her post today, the superhero flick.  Check it out.

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