Escape to the Movies: Salt

[EchetusXe]

So the ambiguity works? Interesting.

 

[Pinguin]

Oh dear. I just lost respect for you MovieBob.

You recommend Equilibrium? That film was dire!

 

[issacization]

lol Angelina hot, NO. she is just a more talented version of Megan fox.

 

[Swifteye]

Dude angelina is not hot. She is a succubus. She is an evil creature that sucks the life of young men. Seen brad pitt lately? Exactly. Tightened your standards bob Jolie is a very evil shallow bizzare creature.

Oh. Salt looks generic.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I just saw the trailer of Salt while watching Inception (which is, by the way, pretty awesome) and next to getting very strong Bourne vibes I also got a very strong Enemy of The State feeling, just without a clueless, scared protagonist. Anyone else got that? I thought it was pretty obvious.

Oh. Salt looks generic.

And that really. But also entertaining, not every flick needs a plot was complicated as Inception or the character development as deep as Battlestar Galactica. It's Angelina Jolie kicking ass, and apparently in a few creative ways to boot. Must be fun, right?

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I was interested right up until you said Angelina Jolie. Then I was perhaps at best mildly curious until you said 'action like the Bourne movies.'

I don't think there are two phrases which could turn me away from a movie faster other than 'Emma Watson' and 'stars in'.

I hate the Bourne films, I think they're boring, the action is annoying and manages to be both overdone but with no drama, and Angelina Jolie just doesn't really do it for me anymore. Granted the last time she did anything for me was probably just post-Tomb Raider when I was 12 and thus biologically compelled to like her, but nowadays I just don't like her that much. I think she's got a fair acting talent, but I don't think she utilises it enough.

Thanks for the review though, it does help with my choice of what to see and what not to see, and was as always funny yet actually based around what happens during the movie, instead of getting tangental about cognitive powers or hardware gimmicks.

 

[Dectilon]

On the internet people's standards for attractiveness goes through the roof.

Equilibrium had an interesting concept, but it just felt wasted on the Gun Kata and the comic-like instant emotional transformations.

 

[maxben]

I disagree on both points, she is attractive and can act.
But seriously now, that kind of judgment is subjective to the extreme so there really is little point in debating the finer points of Angeline Jolie.

Eh, just looking for someone else who agreed with my unattraction towards the "most attractive woman in the world." Maybe it's just because everyone else agrees that she's hot that she doesn't do anything for me personally. Like Pamela Anderson or Jennifer Aniston, who also bore me a little bit. I'd much rather watch stuff with any of the girls from Scrubs.

To tell the truth, Anderson and Aniston look horrible (to me).
I'm not one to just find an actress attractive because she is overly hyped.
But there is something about Jolie that I've always liked, both as a woman and an actress.
That is the point, though, such a thing is subjective.
And reading this thread, seems like many people here agree with you.

 

[CanadianWolverine]

The movie could have been entertaining for me if not for five things:

1) I just watched Inception prior to watching this, a way better movie.

2) I had recently read this news article (and a few related ones) - Suspected Russian spies charged in US: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10442223 Thanks to that, my mind couldn't stop screaming "Bullshit! This is Propaganda!" during the movie. Damn it brain, stop thinking during a movie ... I also blame Inception for this as well.

3) Apparently the President is of some "white" descendant again, Bush never left the US's highest office or something in this movie. Its bad enough the bad guys are Russian commies hating their freedom again or something, they couldn't even be bothered to get a black nameless actor in place of the white nameless actor.

4) Apparently the President also has poorly trained Close Quarter Combat Secret Service bodyguards with shit for brains. Or something, sometimes they seem to give Salt and the other guy a bit of trouble but inevitably, training received as a child far out weighs any recent practice the bodyguards had. Usually my suspension of disbelieve is pretty far ranging, I have a fairly active imagination, why does this stretch credulity? Should I blame 24 for that? Probably not because my next point is...

5) Why the hell does it seem like every news agency in a movie is Fox News? I can't stand their lies IRL (so glad their bullshit about games revealed how much other stuff they bullshit about, which turns out is just about everything), yet I am supposed to accept them as a credible news source in a movie?

All that combined, I hated Salt and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I threw up a double one finger salute to the screen as I left, frack this bullshit.

 

[Necrofudge]

It seems okay.
I mean, They're extremely original in making Russia the bad guy. Because NOBODY has ever done that before.

On a second note, I don't think Angelina Jolie is attractive. Not to say she is ugly, but its sort of... "eh" when I see her.

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

The movie could have been entertaining for me if not for five things:

1) I just watched Inception prior to watching this, a way better movie.

2) I had recently read this news article (and a few related ones) - Suspected Russian spies charged in US: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10442223 Thanks to that, my mind couldn't stop screaming "Bullshit! This is Propaganda!" during the movie. Damn it brain, stop thinking during a movie ... I also blame Inception for this as well.

3) Apparently the President is of some "white" descendant again, Bush never left the US's highest office or something in this movie. Its bad enough the bad guys are Russian commies hating their freedom again or something, they couldn't even be bothered to get a black nameless actor in place of the white nameless actor.

4) Apparently the President also has poorly trained Close Quarter Combat Secret Service bodyguards with shit for brains. Or something, sometimes they seem to give Salt and the other guy a bit of trouble but inevitably, training received as a child far out weighs any recent practice the bodyguards had. Usually my suspension of disbelieve is pretty far ranging, I have a fairly active imagination, why does this stretch credulity? Should I blame 24 for that? Probably not because my next point is...

5) Why the hell does it seem like every news agency in a movie is Fox News? I can't stand their lies IRL (so glad their bullshit about games revealed how much other stuff they bullshit about, which turns out is just about everything), yet I am supposed to accept them as a credible news source in a movie?

All that combined, I hated Salt and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I threw up a double one finger salute to the screen as I left, frack this bullshit.

My feelings were similar to yours, but you were much, much harsher against it than I was.

I also saw Inception the same day. Maybe I'd have enjoyed it more if my brain were inactive and I could swallow the premise?

 

[lobotoja]

theres a trivia, dunno if anyone klicked but the "russian spy" in the trailer is played by Daniel Olbrychski and that guy is a legent in polish cynematography... i mean more like marlon brando than cloney... or like both but the dude rocks.

 

[Darks63]

Sorry Bob but after seeing Tomb Raider(both of them), Mr and Ms Smith and The bullet time movie(I forgot the title) Im not signing on for another AJ action flick they have just sucked in my opinion.

 

[Grand_Marquis]

This is by the same director who did Rabbit Proof Fence??
Well crap. I was all set to just write this movie off and be done with it, but then you had to hit me with that. Now I'm torn.

 

[solidstatemind]

Actually if anyone looked at the papers recently there was some stuff aboot America nabbing some Russian spies. They couldn't have known this during production, but there is still some modernness to it.
Also...
[HEADING=1]Consistency man![/HEADING]
First you target Megan Fox for being an untalented plasticish looking sex symbol (I agree, but that's not the point here) and yet you do a complete 180 on your stance for that sort of thing with Angelina Jolie? Maybe it's just because she's your generations U.P.L.S.S., but all I'm asking for is that you try to be a little consistent.

Emphasis added: whether or not you think Jolie can act, people who professionally judge that sort of thing think she can-- she did win an Oscar after all.

I think Bob has been relatively consistent: Johannson: hot and can act. Bob likes. Jolie: Hot and can act. Bob likes. Fox: Hot but is more wooden than a ventriloquist's dummy: Bob dislikes.

Consistency over only three actresses? ONLY? That's not consistency.

Huh? Excuse me? I'm going to have to assume that you're being humorous. I provided three examples that quickly sprung to mind because they were recently referred to (Jolie, in Salt review, Johannson in Iron Man 2 review, Fox in Jennifer's Body and Transformers 2 review). I in no way assumed or implied that those were the only examples available to support my statement.

But I suppose if you weren't being facetious, and wanted to be intentionally obtuse, you can assume that I was providing the entire range rather than just samples. You know, if making your point is more important than being reasonable.

 

[Guest_Star]

To the Kremlin: We'll stop making hot spy movies about Russia when Russia stops making hot spies.

-snip-

News flash, people: Anna Chapman was a crap spy. Not only did she get caught, she failed to produce any decent product when she did it. One wonders exactly why the KGB, once one of the most feared intelligence agencies in the world, decided to hire a glamorous-but-narcissistic woman who appears to have about as many credentials to be working in the world of espionage as I do to be a concert pianist.

Misdirection.
Of the 11 spies in this case, Chapman and a couple of the others were the crappy ones you're supposed to find. The rest, like the sleepers that had been in the US for 15-16 years were the real deal.
Betcha there's some really good ones that's still out there.

 

[Stabby Joe]

I think Challenging was the only movie off the top of my head that didn't have any notice attempts at sexual provocativeness... except the scene when she was hosed down but that scene is supposed to be distressing.