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Salt (2010 film)

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Salt
A woman's face with. The word 'SALT' is in the center, below it the question "Who is Salt?"
Theatrical poster
Directed byPhillip Noyce
Written byKurt Wimmer
Brian Helgeland
Produced byLorenzo di Bonaventura
Sunil Perkash
StarringAngelina Jolie
Liev Schreiber
Chiwetel Ejiofor
August Diehl
Daniel Olbrychski
CinematographyRobert Elswit
Edited byStuart Baird
John Gilroy
Music byJames Newton Howard
Production
companies
Relativity Media
Di Bonaventura Pictures
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • July 23, 2010 (2010-07-23)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryTemplate:FilmUS
LanguageEnglish
Budget$110 million
Box office$293,500,614[1]

Salt is a 2010 American spy action thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce, written by Kurt Wimmer and Brian Helgeland, and starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Daniel Olbrychski, August Diehl and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, who is accused of being a KGB sleeper agent, and goes on the run to try to clear her name. While Tom Cruise was initially secured for the lead, the script was ultimately rewritten for Jolie.

Filming took place on a location in Washington, D.C., the New York City area, and Albany, New York, between March and June 2009. The film had a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 22 and was released in North America on July 23, 2010 and August 18, 2010, in the United Kingdom.

Plot

CIA agent Evelyn Salt interrogates a Russian defector, Orlov, who tells her about "Day X", an operation organized by a powerful Russian spymaster since the Cold War, which will lead to the destruction of the United States; he claims that for this purpose an elite group of English-speaking Russian agents were trained from birth during the 1970s, with an exceptionally rigorous conditioning that makes their loyalty "unbreakable". Orlov mentions that at the funeral of the late Vice President in New York City, the visiting Russian President will be killed by Russian spy Evelyn Salt. Salt, shaken by the accusation, attempts to contact her husband Mike, a German arachnologist, fearing for his safety. Meanwhile, Orlov escapes, prompting Salt to escape — causing the CIA to think she is a spy. She flees to her apartment and finds her husband missing. With the CIA in pursuit, Salt grabs essentials, as well as a venomous spider, from her apartment and resumes her escape.

After barely escaping a highway pursuit, Salt takes a bus to New York City. The next morning, she sneaks into the heavily guarded St. Bartholomew's Church where the Vice President's funeral is being held and shoots the Russian President. She then encounters Peabody where she surrenders but escapes the NYPD after a wild chase.

A series of flashbacks show Salt growing up in the Soviet Union where Orlov taught her and many other children to obey him and ingratiate themselves to the American government. Then, when it came to Day X, he would command them to strike from various positions in the US. Salt meets Orlov who congratulates her on her killing the Russian President, but he questions her unauthorized decision to marry a foreigner who can be a distraction from her mission. He brings her to a river barge, where he tests her allegiance by having another agent kill Mike in front of her. Salt appears to be unaffected by this, thus passing Orlov's test. He then tells her Part Two of Day X, which would involve seizing the United States' stock of nuclear weapons. The enraged Salt, who had gone to Orlov especially in an attempt to save her husband, kills Orlov and everyone else on the barge in revenge: because of Mike, the most loyal Russian agent Salt turns against the system that brainwashed her. It is noted that thanks to the intervention of Mike, two years ago Salt was saved from a North Korean prison where she was tortured, when both the CIA and the KGB abandoned her as expendable. She then goes to the rendezvous set up by Orlov to meet a NATO mole.

The NATO mole and a disguised Salt go to the White House. Once inside, her NATO counterpart suddenly starts shooting at Secret Service agents and detonates a bomb. Because of this calculated provocation, the Secret Service, along with Winter, rush the President to the lower bunker of the White House. Meanwhile, the President, believing Russia is preparing a nuclear strike against the US, activates the launch codes from the nuclear football. Salt infiltrates the bunker and incapacitates the bodyguards. Winter picks up a gun and kills everyone except the president. After the president refuses to cooperate with the nuclear launch sequence, Winter knocks the President unconscious. Winter then takes over the launch computers using the president's biometrics.

Winter explains to an astonished Salt that he was part of Orlov's plan all along. Winter then uses the nuclear football to start the sequence for launching nuclear missiles at Tehran and Mecca, to turn the Islamic world against the US. Salt asks Winter to let her in but before he opens the door, a fortuitously-timed news program reveals that the Russian President is not dead, but was only placed in a near-death state from spider venom. Winter realizes that Salt is not on his side but she manages to break in, and after an intense struggle, she succeeds in knocking him down. Just after she manages to abort the nuclear missile launch set up by Winter, agents break in and arrest her. Winter goes free, but later Salt uses her chains to strangle him.

Salt is put on a helicopter with Peabody, and she explains everything to him. A skeptical Peabody eventually accepts she is telling the truth after he receives an SMS saying that Salt's fingerprints were found at the barge, confirming her betrayal of Orlov. Because there are other moles, Peabody allows her to escape so she can find and kill them. He uncuffs her and Salt jumps into the Potomac River, free once more.

Cast

Production

Development, writing, and casting

In 2007, it was reported that Terry George and Peter Berg would direct, but both dropped out for undisclosed reasons.[4][5] A year later it was confirmed that Phillip Noyce would direct.[6] In 2007, Tom Cruise had been approached by Noyce to play Edwin A. Salt from the script written by Kurt Wimmer. Cruise was unable to commit to the script because of other commitments to projects and feared that the character was too close to his Mission Impossible character Ethan Hunt.[7] The filmmakers tried to differentiate the character from Hunt, but eventually came to accept they were too similar and decided not to change the characteristics of Salt. Noyce said "But, you know, he had a valid point. It was kind of returning to an offshoot of a character that he’d already played. It’s like playing the brother, or the cousin, of somebody that you played in another movie".[7] The plot of Salt appears to have a certain continuity of style reminiscent of Equilibrium, which was also written by Kurt Wimmer: in both films, there is an oppressive and paranoid political system of brainwashing that gets overthrown by one of its high ranking members who rebels due to an emotional transformation.[8]

Columbia Pictures executive Amy Pascal suggested Angelina Jolie to Noyce, who had often spoken to Jolie in the past about a desire to create a female spy franchise. Jolie was sent the script in September of that year and liked it. Wimmer, Noyce, and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura went to visit Jolie at her home in France to discuss a possible script and character change. Writer Brian Helgeland helped with the character development and dialogue of the script based on the notes that came out of those discussions with Jolie and to accompany the gender change, the title character's name was changed to Evelyn Salt.[7] When asked if the script written for Cruise was the same for Jolie, he said "I think that it’s just been a continual process, obviously accelerating by changing the central character. But the ideas—the locomotive of ideas that drive the movie are the same. An undercover CIA operative is accused of being a Russian mole, and has to go on the run to defend themselves. That’s been the same since day one. The tone of the film has changed in this evolution. In the same way, I guess, as—you know—action thrillers have changed along the lines of the Bond films and the Bourne films".[7][9]

On February 19, 2009, it was reported that Liev Schreiber would play the role of Ted Winter, Evelyn Salt's friend and colleague in the CIA.[10] Three days later Variety reported that Chiwetel Ejiofor would play Peabody, who is in pursuit of Salt.[11]

Filming

On a budget of $110 million principal photography took place mostly on location in New York and Washington, D.C.[12][13] from March to June 2009, while re-shoots were done in December 2009.[14][15][16] Filming for a chase sequence took place in Albany on Water Street near the Interstate 787 ramp between April and May.[17] Studio production took place at Grumman Studios in Bethpage, Long Island, New York.[18][19]

Jolie spent time training before filming to perform almost all of the stunts herself. Bonaventura said, "She is so prepared and so ready and gung-ho, she'll do any stunt. We had her jumping out of helicopters, shooting, jumping off of all sorts of things and infiltrating places that are impossible to infiltrate".[20] On May 29, 2009, filming was temporarily halted after Jolie suffered a minor head injury during filming an action scene. She was taken to a hospital as a precautionary measure and released on the same day with no serious injuries, allowing filming to resume.[21]

Soundtrack

Untitled

Salt: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on July 20, 2010 on iTunes[22] and on August 11, 2010 as on-demand CD-R from Amazon.com. The music was composed by James Newton Howard and released by Columbia Records, Madison Gate Records.

Tracklisting

No.TitleLength
1."Prisoner Exchange"4:09
2."Escaping the CIA"5:20
3."Cornered"1:09
4."Orlov's Story"4:43
5."Chase Across DC"6:51
6."Hotel Room Preparations/Parade"3:59
7."Attack On St. Bart's Cathedral"3:10
8."A Dark Goddamn Hole"1:47
9."Taser Puppet"1:34
10."You Are My Greatest Creation"4:13
11."Destiny"2:22
12."Barge Apocalypse"2:26
13."Day X"1:37
14."I'm Going Home"2:16
15."Eight Floors Down"2:51
16."Arming the Football"2:11
17."Not Safe With Me"2:27
18."You're About to Become Famous"1:38
19."Mano a Mano"1:51
20."Garroted"3:32
21."Go Get Em"3:10

Release

Jolie at the Moscow premiere of the film on July 25, 2010.

The film was featured at San Diego Comic-Con on July 22, 2010.[23] It was released in North America on July 23, 2010. It was released on August 18 in the United Kingdom, despite poster advertisements suggesting it would be released on August 20.[24][25] The Deluxe Unrated Edition Blu-ray and DVD will be released on December 21, 2010 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It will include three versions of the film: the original theatrical film and two additional unrated extended cuts not seen in theaters with two alternate endings. A Theatrical Edition DVD will also be released.[26]

Box office

Salt opened in 3,612 theaters and at number two with USD$12,532,333—$13,470 per theater on its opening day.[27] On its opening weekend, the film made $36,011,243—$9,970 per theater, behind only Inception, which made $42,725,012 on its second weekend.[28] On its second weekend, it declined in ticket sales by 45.9% making $19,471,355—$5,391 per theater and placed number three behind Dinner for Schmucks.[29] As of October 24th, Salt has come to gross $118,311,368 in the United States and Canada and $175,017,705 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $293,329,073.[1]

Critical reception

The film received from generally mixed to positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 61% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 209 reviews, with an rating average of 6 out of 10.[30] Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs,[31] the film holds an overall approval rating of 58%, based on a sample of 36 reviews.[32] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 65% based on 42 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews.[33]

Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter said that, "While preposterous at every turn, Salt is a better Bond movie than most recent Bond movies, as its makers keep the stunts real and severely limit CGI gimmickry".[34] Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert gave the film four stars (his maximum), saying "Salt is a damn fine thriller. ... It's gloriously absurd. This movie has holes in it big enough to drive the whole movie through. The laws of physics seem to be suspended here the same way as in a Road Runner cartoon."[35]

Possible sequel

In an interview with Contactmusic.com the film's director Phillip Noyce confirmed that a sequel is likely, saying "Hopefully within a couple of years, we'll have another one. Angelina's so great in this part. When audiences see the movie they're going to feel like it's only just the beginning".[36]

References

  1. ^ a b "Salt (2010)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. July 23, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  2. ^ "Cover Story (Salt)". Total Film. August 2010 (170). Future Publishing: 77. 2010.
  3. ^ "Cover Story (Salt)". Total Film. August 2010 (170). Future Publishing: 78. 2010.
  4. ^ "Salt Peppered With Cruise". IGN Entertainment. News Corporation. June 27, 2007. Retrieved February 28, 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  5. ^ Sperling, Nicole (December 18, 2007). "Peter Berg to direct Cruise in 'Edwin A. Salt'?". Hollywood Insider. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 28, 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Fleming, Michael (June 30, 2008). "Phillip Noyce to direct Col's 'Salt'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
  7. ^ a b c d Fischer, Paul (June 22, 2009). "Exclusive: Phillip Noyce Talks "Salt"". Dark Horizons. Retrieved January 27, 2010.
  8. ^ "Salt Makes Paranoid Dystopia Hot Again". io9.com. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  9. ^ Fleming, Michael (August 11, 2008). "Jolie replaces Cruise in 'Salt'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  10. ^ Clint, Morris (February 17, 2009). "Liev Schreiber eyes Salt (Updated!)". Moviehole. Retrieved February 25, 2010.
  11. ^ Fleming, Michael (February 23, 2009). "Chiwetel Ejiofor joins Noyce's 'Salt'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved February 25, 2010.
  12. ^ Fritz, Ben (July 22, 2010). "Movie projector: 'Salt' to challenge 'Inception' in tight box-office race". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
  13. ^ "First Look at Angelina Jolie in Salt". ComingSoon.net. CraveOnline. March 3, 2009. Retrieved January 27, 2010. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  14. ^ Murray, Rebecca (March 3, 2009). "Filming Begins on Salt Starring Angelina Jolie". About.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
  15. ^ "Angelina Jolie and Salt Filming Albany, New York Latest News!". The Insider. CBS Interactive. April 24, 2009. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
  16. ^ "Angelina Jolie Gearing Up To Film More 'Salt'". Access Hollywood. NBC Universal. December 16, 2009. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
  17. ^ "Albany filming for Jolie movie continues". WTEN. Young Broadcasting. April 24, 2009. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
  18. ^ Solnik, Claude. Cached version of "The Avengers Landing at Grumman", Long Island Business News, October 7, 2010. Original story, requiring subscription.
  19. ^ Nassau County Industrial Development Agency: "Grumman Studios", n.d.
  20. ^ "'Salt' Sneak Peak". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. January 17, 2010. Retrieved January 27, 2010.
  21. ^ "Angelina Jolie back filming on "Salt" after head injury on set!". The Insider. CBS Interactive. June 1, 2009. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
  22. ^ "Salt (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". iTunes Store.
  23. ^ Davis, Erik (July 8, 2010). "Comic Con Thursday Schedule Announced". Cinematical. Moviefone. Retrieved July 8, 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  24. ^ "Angelina Jolie Filming Action Scene for Salt". ComingSoon.net. CraveOnline. April 27, 2009. Retrieved January 27, 2010. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  25. ^ "Salt Worldwide Release Dates". Sony Pictures. Retrieved February 25, 2010.
  26. ^ Michael (October 19, 2010). "Angelina Jolie's SALT DVD Date & Details". MoviesOnline. Retrieved November 24, 2010.
  27. ^ "Salt (2010) – Daily box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. July 23, 2010. Retrieved July 26, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  28. ^ "Salt (2010) – Weekend Box Office Results for July 23-25, 2010". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. July 25, 2010. Retrieved July 26, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  29. ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for July 30–August 1, 2010". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. August 1, 2010. Retrieved August 3, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  30. ^ "Salt (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved July 21, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  31. ^ "Rotten Tomatoes FAQ: What is Cream of the Crop". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved July 21, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  32. ^ "Salt (Top Critics)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved July 21, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  33. ^ "Salt Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks. Retrieved July 21, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  34. ^ Honeycutt, Kirk (July 16, 2010). "Salt – Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved August 25, 2010. [dead link]
  35. ^ Ebert, Roger (July 21, 2010). "SALT (PG-13)". Chicago Sun-Times. John Barron. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  36. ^ "Angelina Jolie - Salt 2 To Be Made In 'A Couple Of Years'". Contactmusic.com. July 23, 2010. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
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