The Word on Films

Salt is the story of Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie), a badass CIA operative whose situation gets a little tricky when a Russian defector accuses her of being a Russian double agent. Pretty soon she’s hunted all over the city and regularly escaping capture by the skin of her perfect teeth.

This film is a lot of fun. It sits somewhere halfway between the Bourne and Die Hard franchises in tone, character and action set-pieces. What results is a film that’s just real enough to make you care, without taking itself so seriously we can’t accept Salt jumping from one speeding semi-trailer to another. Jolie is perfect for the role, exhibiting just the right amount of attitude, nous and femininity.

As the plot progresses, the turns do become a little too easy to spot, and some of the character motivations are less than seamless. But that’s not why we’re watching. The chases are exciting, Evelyn’s ingenuity is amply tested and proven, and the slowly closing net keeps the tension at a maximum. A slight fizzle in the climax is unfortunate but much of this can be attributed to the set up for what will doubtless be a franchise of its own. Welcome to the party, Mrs Bond.

Maybe it’s the fact that I spent the two hour plus running time of this film in the cinema’s first row and can now only permanently look up that’s affecting my mood, but I just can’t have the same oily critical wank that everyone seems to be enjoying over this film.

O, it has its good points. There’s a good and timely plot, thanks largely to the original novel Ghost by Robert Harris. Most of the film is well paced, particularly in the beginning, with a slow Hitchcockian attempt at playing with the audience. And there’s an excellent spark of humour and wit throughout, admirably delivered by Obi Wan KeGregor.

Unfortunately, this tale of an unnamed ghost writer taking over the autobiography of ex Brit Prime Minister Adam “Tony Blair” Lang from his mysteriously dead predecessor at the very moment the PM is accused of war crimes falls short of true entertainment. This is largely due to information being kept from us too long. In superior thrillers No Country For Old Men and The Constant Gardner, there are countless plot points, each more dazzling and thrilling and twisting as the screen time progresses. The Ghost Writer has about four, and each takes about half an hour to get to. Add to this a conclusion that can be predicted early in the film and it makes for a rather unthrilling thriller sprinkled with moments of enjoyment.

The opening of this film is about as cringe-worthy as it comes. After a ridiculously melodramatic, expositional prologue, we meet young Dave (at this stage played by Jake Cherry) who gets separated from his school group through a pretty thin and convenient twist of fate. He stumbles into the work shop of Balthazar (Nicolas Cage) who tells him he’s something called the Prime Merlinian and will do something terribly important and blah blah blah. Some bad stuff happens and Balthazar and Dave are separated for ten years. At about this point in proceedings, the average audience member is shoving stale popcorn kernels into their eyes, hoping to block some of the impact of any more smouldering, hands dramatically akimbo, ‘I’m a badass sorcerer’ stares from Cage. But then we meet Dave as a twenty-year-old Physics geek (now played by Jay Baruchel) and things take a definite turn for the better.

To say Baruchel carries this film would be a disservice. It would be more accurate to say that just as the bloated mass of soul-less, big budget, paint-by-numbers filmmaking starts to sink into an irredeemable mire, Jay shrugs his shoulders self-consciously before reaching down a single charismatic hand of rescue. He’s funny, he’s likeable, he sells some often quite poor dialogue and gives humanity to a difficult role. Hell, he even manages to reflect a little class back onto Nic. He’s a genuine nerd. Not in a Shia Lebouf quick quip on the run kinda way but a genuine geek and loveable for it. With his contribution, this film transforms. It’s fun, funny, exciting and extremely entertaining, with shades of a Neverending Story adventurous spirit. Wear the first twenty minutes with a grimace, then reap the rewards.