9/50: Salt

This is one of the films I had on my list to see in the theater over the summer, but didn't make the cut on my very few visits.

I was interested in seeing how a film that was made for Tom Cruise would come across with Angelina Jolie in the lead instead. So, I checked out Salt.

First, I am not the greatest Angelina Jolie fan. I have enjoyed a handful of her performances, but there is something about her that sometimes throws me off of a movie - although she isn't near Julia Roberts territory for me. That being said, she was very good as Evelyn Salt a CIA agent who is forced to run for her life after being targeted as a Russian spy.

The movie had me going so many different ways I wasn't sure what was happening some of the time, which I like about a movie. I am usually one or two steps ahead of films, but this one I was even scratching my head a few times wondering if what I was watching was true or not.

Not to give anything away from the film, but I am not sure if I totally buy how the spies are being planted in the United States. It just seemed a little far fetched - but that's Hollywood I guess.

Other than that, not too much to complain about. A lot of great action and a decent story line that kept me both scratching my head and entertained throughout.

It's now hard to imagine Tom Cruise actually portraying Salt, because it feels like it was written for Jolie.

Grade:

Wanted

I have taken a small hiatus from my 25 Days of Christmas due to the fact that I am on the final push for my first semester back to school. I will be wrapping everything up tomorrow with two finals - so I should be back on it after that. Plus, I will make up for the films I have missed during the past few days during the weekends - so I will definitely have at least 25 films when I am completed.

That being said, I received Wanted in my Netflix mail box this week and I have been wanting to check it out since I saw the previews last spring.

I am not the biggest Angelina Jolie fan. She is hot and cold for me with her acting, and I am also not one of those people who thinks she is the most gorgeous woman in the world. That being said, I thought this role was perfect for her - but I am ahead of myself.

The film stars James McAvoy as Wesley Gibson, a drone who works in an office (much like Office Space) and takes medication to control his weird impulses. His boss is a bitch, his best friend is banging his girlfriend - yeah his life pretty much sucks.

Anyway, along comes Fox (Jolie) to recruit Gibson to a secret assassin group to hunt down the man who has killed his father (another assassin).

The first half of the film is basically Gibson getting trained to be the perfect assassin - learning how to take a punch, fight with knives, and even bend a bullet. Then he is finally sent out to start killing people.

The secret group is headed by Sloan (Morgan Freeman) who receives his targets from a loom through binary code. Very odd, but also very interesting.

I don't want to give anything away, but this movie was very action packed and the plot actually made sense - even though a few things were tossed in that you have to scratch your head about actually happening.

The final few scenes were amazingly well done and I was on the edge of my seat there was so much action.

I was surprised with McAvoy as I have only really seen him in Chronicles of Narnia and heard he was in Atonement. But he proved here that he has the range to play an action star - and even had a few one liners as well.

Grade: