SALT review
Sep 04
Unlike many who, perhaps understandably, raised a questionable eyebrow when they first saw the trailer for Salt, I was instantly excited. I knew right away I wanted to see this film. Not just because it starred Angelina Jolie; not just because it was directed by fellow Aussie Phillip Noyce; and not just because it looked like a straight-forward-good-time-no-brainer action thriller; but because it appeared to present all of these things in one sexy 100 minute package.
Boy I love it when a film delivers on its promise!
There were moments in the trailer that had me thinking the studio had given too much away in their bid to attract the majority audience. Thankfully, this wasn’t completely the case. Instead, Salt took a midpoint turn like no other film I can recall in recent times, and took the audience in a completely new direction that remarkably remained convincing and entertaining. Obviously I can’t write about what this directional change is – and, trust me, you haven’t guessed it – but it was undoubtedly a gamble that was paid off by patient and deliberate filmmaking from Noyce and his team. It could have so easily ended in shambles. The trailer shows hardly any snippets of the film beyond the midpoint. How could it? (If you’re planning on seeing it and haven’t yet, do so before someone drops the ball and reveals to you what this midpoint change is—I reckon it’d alter the viewing experience a great deal.)
Seeing as this is called Salt, please bear with me while I use a cooking motif in the next paragraph to describe the kind of film Salt brings to the table… Oh, glorious puns!
Take just a pinch of James Bond, add a huge dollop of The Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum and a cup of Mission Impossible, add a teaspoon of MacGyver (remember him?) blend thoroughly, heat on high and serve smoking hot. That’s Salt.
Now, I don’t mean to say adding up the excitement of all of those films and franchises equals this film; rather, Salt contained elements of them all in new ways with a great female lead—and a plot that allows the female lead to have real purpose. Originally, Tom Cruise was set to play the lead Salt character before he backed out. The script was re-tooled once Jolie expressed interest. This is probably the best thing that could have ever happened for the project because the female lead really helps it stand out from a pack of usually-male-leads in this genre.
The bare-bones plot (for the sake of this review and spoilers) has Jolie, as Evelyn Salt, working for the CIA and is unexpectedly told, by a Russian spy, that she is a Russian spy and will try to kill the Russian President. “Whatever, you freak,” (paraphrasing) says Jolie, and she promptly tries to leave—but the CIA aren’t convinced of her innocence and will hunt her down wherever she goes. Oh no! Luckily she’s a highly trained agent who can kick ass and get herself out of the stickiest of situations. Oh yes! That’s the first 15 minutes for you…
Turns out I’m an Angelina Jolie fan. I mean, I’ve always admired her work and been interested in her film career (as opposed to her tabloid life). There’s no doubt Jolie can act—she has an Oscar to prove it—so it’s strange to have conversations with young folk today who haven’t bothered seeing Girl, Interrupted and sight Jolie as nothing more than a boobs-and-hair action star. She’s so much more. Salt actually helps underline my point. She takes the thick drama (ala The Changeling) needed to plead her innocence to the CIA and blends it perfectly with kickass action skills required to knock guys the fuck out (ala Tomb Raider, Mr & Mrs Smith). I never questioned her performance—I was convinced of her struggle to prove her innocence and I was convinced she was in pain whenever a baddie got a cheap shot in. I mean, she’s hardly out for an Oscar in this one, is she? Turn up, go hard and look damn good doing it. She was sexy like a Bond girl only she had the lead role and was doing the cool, dangerous, exhilarating action.
The supporting cast included solid, straight-laced performances from Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor as important guys in suits. There wasn’t much room for them to move with the spotlight shining so bright on Jolie; they delivered their characters simply as required for such a story.
I enjoyed the way director Phillip Noyce didn’t throw a brick at the audience, yet still allowed everything to be explained point-blank. Aside from some excruciating flashback memories from Joile that hold on her while awful cross-fades bring them up, the film is paced and delivered near-perfectly. Everything is laid out and explained in creative ways, following the engaging plot was a breeze and aided the mountain of wonderful set-pieces. For instance, unlike the Bourne sequels, I could actually keep track of who was hitting whom during a fight sequence; all of them wonderfully orchestrated and easy to follow.
There isn’t too much else to say for a film of this ilk. It would be a waste of time trying to critique the cinematography or the subtexts, because this isn’t trying to be a thought-provoking art film. Salt is an action thriller with some great originality, and it was a blast to watch. You won’t find it on many ‘100 Movies You Must See’ lists 10 years from now, but as far as modern-day thrillers go, it’s definitely a stand-out.
Of all the overblown sequels and franchises we see in this day and age, here’s an original character in a great new action-thriller environment that’s original and deserves a second go-round. I’d definitely get in line for a sequel.
SALT
First THREE MUSKETEERS poster is just words on a page
Sep 03
It’s hard enough as it is to have any faith in The Three Musketeers (in 3D), what with it being directed by serial hack Paul W.S. Anderson and all, but it doesn’t help that the first poster for the film is exceedingly dull, and isn’t even the right shape to boot.
And as if that weren’t enough to thoroughly dishearten any interest I may or may not have potentially had for this project, the only name on the poster that’s even half-interesting is Christoph Waltz‘s. Sure, as part of a strong ensemble, actors like Milla Jovovich and Orlando Bloom are perfectly tolerable; thrown together with a stack of other merely-competent actors, however, the net result is crushingly mediocre.
Who knows — maybe I’m being far too harsh on Musketeers, and Anderson might in fact miraculously produce an enduring work of art that will thrill and entertain audiences for — wait, he directed Death Race? I take it back.
The Three Musketeers cross swords in the US on 15 April 2011. In 3D.
Paula Patton will be the new MISSION IMPOSSIBLE girl, just don’t call it that, okay?
Sep 03
Deadline Hollywood today confirmed that the new Mission Impossible film will not be a sequel, rather (as already suspected) a ‘reboot’, of sorts. In fact, it will even adopt an entirely new title and will not feature the Mission Impossible name. I’m still not entirely sure how that’s supposed to work– especially since Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are all returning in what is clearly a fourth Mission Impossible film. What the studio wants, the studio gets. We trust JJ Abrams, right? (He’s producing).
Part of the new cast includes actress Paula Patton (Precious) who signed on today, joining fellow M:I newcomer Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) who signed on last week. Patton beat out Lauren German, Kristin Kreuk and Paula Patton to land the role.
I’m still glad Tom Cruise managed to get himself signed on to this one. Despite what you think you hate about the guy, he elevates a film and he just belongs with Mission Impossible– even if we’re not going to call it that now.
The New Mission Impossible film/sequel/reboot will be directed by Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) and is currently in line for a 16 December, 2011 release.
I think that’s supposed to be Russel Crowe in THE NEXT THREE DAYS poster
Sep 02
I admit, if I didn’t already know Russel Crowe was starring in this effort, or if his name wasn’t plastered across the top of the poster in Arial Bold, I might not have recognized him in this sorry excuse for a collage-of-images-pieced-together-to-make-a-different-image poster.
The Next Three Days is a thriller directed by Paul Haggis (Crash) and also stars Elizabeth Banks and Liam Neeson. The all-to-revealing trailer arrived last month.
The Next Three Days is due on 19 November 2010 in the States; no Australian release dates have been set yet.
MISS! HIT! First images of Rihanna on the set of BATTLESHIP
Sep 02
First, you need to get past the fact that, yes, there will be a motion picture called Battleship, based on the famous Hasbro game. You know, C3, hit, miss, etc … Yep, that one.
Second, you need to come to terms with the fact that the film will star Rihanna, that singer lady who has never made a film before. Ever. But she’s bankable and the studios like bankable.
Okay, now that you have these unfortunate facts swimming in your head, I can show you these pics of Rihanna on the set of Battleship and you won’t think I’m taking the piss out of you; because this is no joke. More info about the project below, if you’re keen.
See the rest (far too many) here.
Battleship is being directed by Peter Berg (Hancock, Friday Night Lights) and will also star Brooklyn Decker, Taylor Kitsch and Alexander Skarsgard. Sadly, there won’t be giant red and white pegs falling from the sky in dramatic CGI set pieces. Instead, Berg has described the story as “a contemporary story of an international five-ship fleet engaged in a very dynamic, violent and intense battle.” Apparently, they’ll be fighting aliens and not a foreign enemy. The film isn’t expected to hit screens 18 May 2012. Yes, 2012.
Winter review round-up
Sep 01
Spring has apparently sprung, despite the rain forecast for the weekend and the still pretty-cold nights. That can only mean one thing: it’s time to look back over the past 3 months and take stock of what movies we saw, and whether or not we liked them very much.
As usual, this season was a bit of a mixed bag. Being the American summer, a lot of big cash cow flicks were released — Sex And The City 2, The A-Team, Twilight, Predators, Inception, etc. — and only some of them were good. I like our summer better. We get stuff like Tron Legacy and Harry Potter, and we used to get The Lord Of The Rings.
Anyway, let’s get down to it!
“Quite apart from being one of the most offensive products ever manufactured, Sex And The City 2 is also outrageously surreal to watch. It is so surreal, in fact, that if asked “what was it about?” a mere ten minutes after watching it, you may find yourself hitting a mental blank (probably caused by the violent brain haemorrhage induced by how stupid the movie was). Did I already mention how forgettable it is?”
“How did so many ‘A-list’ comedians assemble in one place and not realise their jokes were falling completely flat on a deadweight script?”
“There’s no rhyme or reason to any single thing Aldous Snow does — and he does some bafflingly strange things towards the end of the film — and the sheer otherness of the central character damages Greek almost beyond repair.”
“A vast improvement over the last installment in the series, but that isn’t saying much.”
Pandorum (While the film didn’t actually see a cinematic release here, I finally got around to watching the Blu-Ray in July, so it counts. Barely)
“Right from the start of Pandorum, I felt a creeping sense of déjà vu. As the film progressed, the sense grew stronger, and stronger, until it became an overriding axiom of truth in my brain: Pandorum is exactly like a video game, but with all the gameplay removed.”
“What made the remake harder to endure was the fact that, for whatever reason, they’ve taken those same beats and stretched them out to a challenging 140 minutes. Almost 2-and-a-half hours is a damn long time to wait for something you know is coming.”
“It’s all here. Big guns, big fights, big arms, square jaws, car chases, explosions, sexy ladies in distress and, of course, witty one-liners. There’s even a bad guy ‘monologing’ at the end to complete the package. It’s all been done before and there’s nothing revolutionary for The Expendables to hang its hat on.”
“A dark streak permeates the plot, an aspect that probably would have helped the film if it had stronger characters, but in reality serves to alienate the audience from what little good Splice has to offer.”
“When there’s parachuting tanks, stereotypically jaded-but-still-in-love ex-girlfriends, and some jerkish CIA types involved, you know the bulk of the audience’s focus is going to be on the action rather than the characters. Here The A-Team is something of a mixed bag.”
“I can’t believe it’s the same kid from Kick-Ass. I’m glad I saw Kick-Ass before I saw Nowhere Boy, because I think that comparison helped underline how spectacularly perfect his performance is.”
“The performances are all — miraculously for this type of film – passable at least, and great at best. Adrien Brody stands out, of course, but Laurence Fishburne’s Apocalypse Now-informed performance as a bloke who’s been on the wrong planet for too long is refreshingly fun to watch.”
“I must admit that I was hoping to laugh out loud more. Heck, I think the audience I saw it with– a mix of mothers, fathers teenagers and early-twenties couples, wanted to laugh more, too– but we never did.”
“It’s clear that director James Mangold is fluent in the language of cinema. He conducts the ballet between screen and speakers, actors and audience with startling precision.”
“Every shot, every cut, every sound effect and musical cue is distinctly Nolan-ish: the sound design is sharp and punchy, the visuals are moody and gorgeous, the music is as subtle as a brick and twice as threatening, and the performances are exemplary across the board. In fact, the only real problem here is the script.”
“Pilgrim’s strongest selling card is its humour, which, thankfully, isn’t content with the kind of geek jokes that make people like me roll their eyes.”
Today marks ReelThinker’s nine month anniversary. Incidentally, this is approximately the period of time required to cook a functioning human being the old-fashioned way. Probably not relevant, but worth mentioning anyway. Thanks for reading, and here’s to another 9 months!
For previous review round-ups, go here:
Oh wow, the new TRON LEGACY IMAX poster is not good
Sep 01
Disney have been pouring it on thick for most of the year, smothering the web with the juicy goodness that is Tron Legacy, their highly anticipated sequel to the 1982 classic Tron. The teasers, clips, posters and images have all been impressive from the get-go. Plus the project itself is to die for. Jeff Bridges will reprise his role as Kevin Flynn in an updated new-look Tron game setting in brand-spanking new 3D. The kind of 3D that actually looks tolerable.
But this new IMAX poster, when compared to the rest of the Tron Legacy marketing, seems below par. Maybe I’m just missing something, but I’m really not seeing anything worth getting excited for.
I’ll go watch the trailer again and get ready for December, when this puppy hits cinemas worldwide.
New red band MACHETE trailer ‘HEADS WILL ROLL’ is incredibly violent, bloody and sexy (NSFW)
Sep 01
I don’t need to type much here; this new red band trailer for Machete speaks for itself. Severed heads, blood-splattered walls, big guns, bare asses and explosions. Appropriately titled ‘Heads Will Roll‘, this trailer delivers what it promises.
What started as a faux trailer in Grindhouse might end up a cult classic feature film in its own right, if these cool trailers and posters are anything to go by. I guess we’ll know for sure soon.
Directed by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Once Upon A Time In Mexico), Machete stars Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro, Michelle Rodriguez, Lindsay Lohan and Cheech Marin.
Machete is released this Friday (4 September) in the U.S.
Shaq will cameo as himself in Adam Sandler’s next comedy JACK AND JILL
Sep 01
The Wrap confirms basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal will be making a cameo (with Al Pacino) in Adam Sandler‘s next comedy Jack and Jill. As revealed last week, the film will also star Katie Holmes.
Even though he’ll be playing himself, Shaq’s on-screen presence pretty much ends at the sight of his huge build. Once he speaks, he’ll be trying to act, and the jig will be up.
Interestingly, Shaq being cast in this is not the scariest thing about the project. No. Adam Sandler will be playing both title namesakes Jack and Jill in this doozy. Yes, Adam Sandler as a woman. Say no more? You got it.
Jack And Jill is being directed by Denis Dugan (Happy Gilmore, Grown Ups) and is set for release in sometime in 2011.
What we really need now is another campy shark film in 3D that ISN’T a Jaws sequel
Sep 01
Sometimes, if I close my eyes really hard and think about something else, news of a terrible movie project goes away and you never hear of it again. Sometimes, usually when a film is extra-terrible, it comes rushing back from nowhere and startles the hell out of me. Following the success of Piranha 3D at the box office recently, director David R. Ellis (Snakes On A Plane, The Final Destination) is going ahead with his film Shark Night 3D.
Yeah, that’s right– fuck Jaws 3D. What we need now is a another campy gore fest shark film with lacklustre characters and embarrassing 3D (though I shouldn’t be too harsh… I haven’t seen Piranha 3D yet).
To be fair, Ellis shot The Final Destination in 3D, so at least he’s familiar wit the technology. And they;ll be building a live-action shark to use in REAL WATER, not just entirely CGI. But, still… “Shark Night 3D”, you know? Like, just, fuck!
After coming-and-going as a bad idea back in April, this project is officially back on the cards with news (vie Heat Vision) that Ellis has lined up Sinqua Walls, Chris Carmack, Alyssa Diaz and Joel David Moore to star.
The depressing part is, I want to keep a close eye on this one. I want to see the final product– and so do you. There’s its box office return brewing already. I guess they should also start planning Shark Night 4D in 3D: The Return.
Revheads rejoice, first look at the beefy cars from the set of FAST FIVE
Sep 01
The first images from the set of Fast Five (aka The Fast And The Furious 5) have arrived online, showing shiny new cars with expensive body work and really big engines. I’m sure they’re insanely cool for car lovers who know what the fuck they’re looking at in terms of makes and models.
There’s also a new picture of another machine: Dwayne Johnson, the only thing going for this film at the moment. I mean, it’s a fourth sequel… how excited am I supposed to get?
Fast Five also stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Joaquim de Almeida, Elsa Pataky, and Matt Schulze. It’s expected to be on U.S. screens from 11 June 2011.
This is just a selection of the dozens of pics available via NSX Prime.
Oh god, it’s really happening: set pics from Spielberg’s WAR HORSE
Aug 31
As a kid, I didn’t like E.T. It was too boring and too scary and I’d much rather have watched Star Wars any day of the week. I’ve never watched E.T. since, and I have no desire to do so. Does that make me a bad person?
Steven Spielberg‘s most kid-friendly pic since the days of E.T. and Hook is right around the corner: War Horse. (Yes, the main character is a horse; no, the horse doesn’t speak — at least, I hope not.)
If you, like me, were hoping all this War Horse business was just a bad dream, I’m sorry to tell you that it is in fact a hideously mundane facet of reality. The Beard would not stand around in the British countryside just to take in the view! Not when he owns his own private tropical island. Look at these pictures and grumble that Spielberg’s next next project can’t come too soon. Grumble, dammit!
War Horse is due on 10 August 2011. More images here.
OPINIONS COUNT