MOVIE REVIEW: Salt

The Other Half and I saw Salt at our new favorite theaters, the Arclight Cinemas in Pasadena, on its opening weekend.

Salt stars Angelina Jolie, Chiwetel Ejiofor and

Liev Schrieber in a script written by Kurt Wimmer and directed by Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, Dead Calm).

One of the interesting aspects of Salt is that the main character of Evelyn Salt was originally written for a male actor, namely Tom Cruise. When you see the movie this is not surprising because it is very reminiscent of the Jason Bourne movies (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum.)

Similar to these movies, Salt is pretty action-packed; it is practically a non-stop thrill ride. As a feminist, it is quite fun to see Angelina Jolie kicking so much butt.

There are some aspects of the plots that don't quite past the smell test but in general events are proceeding so quickly one generally doesn't dwell on these imperfections. Without giving away any spoilers I will say that the movie ends in such a way that makes a sequel (or sequels) highly likely.

Running Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes. MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action.

Plot: A.
Acting: A-.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: B.

Overall Grade: A-/B+ (3.583/4.0).

MOVIE REVIEW: Wanted

Saw Wanted at the Pacific Theaters 18 at the Americana at Brand on Friday night. The movie stars Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman and directed by Timur Bekmambetov.

The movie is based on an eponymous comic book series (that I have never heard of) and features the big budget debut of the talented Russian director of Night Watch and Day Watch.

Bekmambetov has clearly been busy watching the oeuvre of David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club) and The Wachowski Brothers' Matrix franchise.

Wanted is so intense it's almost a self-parody. The movie starts with a guy running so fast that his wake is blowing paintings off the walls as he runs by them. Then the guy jumps through a 40th story window about 100 feet onto the roof of a neighboring skyscraper. And the movie gets more intense after that!

The plot of the movie is almost irrelevant. It's strong point is its visuals. And the visuals are very strong. The movie apparently revels in its R rating, because it is breathtakingly violent in some scenes. Not only is there the cartoon-like hail of bullets and explosions violence of The Matrix but there is also the bloody bone-crunching hands-on violence of Fight Club.

Despite (or, for some, because of) these features the movie is entertaining, if not memorable.
It will, of course, make oodles of money and probably generate multiple sequels.

GRADE: C.