One Movie to See: Salt
There is really one word to describe this movie: Improbable. In fact, if there is one complaint I have about this film
it is that it is simply not as realistic as many of the new films in the action/spy thriller like the Bourne trilogy - which
is probably saying something (reads: those are pretty unrealistic too...). But that's not to say that
Salt is so
terribly unrealistic that you can't enjoy the ride. In fact, I really
did enjoy the ride... even thought it stretched
my believability muscles a little far.
One thing this film does make me wonder is if we'll get to see Jolie get back to any character roles or if she's doomed
to play an action hero until she's just too old to do it any longer. I mean, don't get me wrong. I like seeing Jolie
running around out there while blasting bad guys in silly Tomb Raider attire just like the next guy, but one would think
there is a shelf life on that kind of thing. Rightly or wrongly, Harrison Ford will probably be diving over barstools
and smashing beer bottles in bad guy faces until he has reached the ripe old age of... Sean Connery. But you certainly
can't say the same thing of, say, Dame Judy Dench. Right? Maybe Jolie will buck the trend, but I kind of doubt it.
All that stuff aside, I admit that I really did enjoy this little flick. It's mindless, it's full of eye candy and
ridiculous stunts, but I'm fine with that.
One Movie to Skip: Final
Denis Leary does a great job in this movie, but ultimately the film just feels like a not-so-subtle mix of
12 Monkeys
and
Momento. Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, it's not as interesting as either of them - and that might be giving
12 Monkeys a little more than it is due. That having been said, unlike the doomed love subplot
in
12 Monkeys, for instance, the sub plot with doctor in
Final is just not as compelling as it should be.
Maybe we just didn't get enough information about her back story early enough to care. Surprise endings can have that effect
on a movie unless we're given another reason to want to see the characters succeed (or fail). Anyway, the point of this
review is that while the situation proposed in
Final is sort of interesting, there just wasn't enough meat to really
carry the movie. Leary can do drama; he does it every season in
Rescue Me. But there is meat and history to that
character. We don't get that back drop in this film, and it's a weaker film for that missing element. Try
Momento
or
12 Monkeys instead.
