Salt (Phillip Noyce, 2010)

As they said, art imitates life; the recent news about the capture of Russian spy - Anna Chapman and her comrades in United States eerily echoes the Angelina Jolie starring spy thriller Salt. It was Tom Cruise who is supposed to play the lead title at one time but dropped out because it would be too similar to his well known special agent character Ethan Hunt of Mission: Impossible franchise. The script was subsequently altered for Salt to undergo gender change.

Talk about Mrs Pitt, until this movie, I have never really notice what a beauty this lady is, The sultry-eyed, bee stung-lipped, with a killer figure; she look absolutely stunning on the big screen. Her portrayal in this movie allows her to transform from a blonde to fringe brunette to short hair, she even look great in disguising as a man! Angelina Jolie is a bona fide female action stars, step aside Milla Jovovich who is merely a rag doll in the cartoonish Resident Evil movie series. Jolie already has a few action flicks under her belt, she starred in Wanted (Bekmambetov, 2008), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Liman, 2005) and she also played as Lara Croft character in the two movies based on the video games adaptation.

Who is Salt? That is the tagline flash across the teaser movie poster with Angelina's face. Bundle with the curious trailers, the movie marketing campaign would love to make sure the gullibility in us will search for the answer. From the opening, Salt is rescued from the detention of North Korea. A few years later and happily married to a mild-mannered arachnologist (scientist who study spiders), she seems to work for an oil & gas company. Below the horizon she is a CIA agent, more like an office desk job rather than a field agent. One fine day, a self-claimed Russian spy walks into CIA Centre and declares his defection to US government. He also goes as far as claiming there will be a Russian spy by the name of Evelyn Salt, who will attempt to kill the visiting Russia president soon and kickstart the "Day X", an operation cultivated by the former Soviet Union's KGB officer to overthrow US government.

Before the accusation can be confirmed, all hell breaks loose as the suspected Salt escapes without attempt to clear her name. And thus ensure the exciting on-the-foot and car chases. Hot on her heels are Liev Schreiber as Salt's superior and Chiwetel Ejiofor as another secret government agent. Liev is skeptical about the whole scheme but Chiwetel is adamant to hunt her down. Audience rides the wave with Salt who shows her cat-like reflex by walking and hugging the building ledges and jumping from a moving truck to another one on a highway. By the way, she also do-a-MacGyver by making a bazooka out of office tool.

Although I enjoy a resourceful Evelyn Salt outwits and outmuscles her pursuers, it is quite annoying to see Salt manage to break free every single time after being detained. I think either one should be fired from the job, the careless persons who held Salt under custody, or the movie screenwriter, take your pick.

Why is Salt running from everyone as if she is guilty as charged? Is she really a highly trained Russian spy planted as a mole in CIA? I am sure you will be keen to look for the answers as there will be enough plot twists waiting for you until the end, perhaps spill over to potential sequel. The quest of finding Salt's true identity tag along with heart pounding action sequences made me forego certain plot absurdity. As the retrospective Cold War era reminds us, the sizzling hot Jolie provides the extra spice to Salt.

1 star = Pathetic, SowYau feel ashamed of watching it
2 stars = Off the mark material, approach with caution
3 stars = Generally good, you should watch it if it's your favourite genre
4 stars = excellent, strongly recommended
5 stars = A classic status? only time will tell. But it is definitely in SowYau's Hall of Fame List

New Movie Review: The Bourne Ultimatum

Finally, Jason is going back to his home ground - U.S.of A.

Jason Bourne is still running, but this time, the tide has turn around, he is running towards CIA home turf in New York.

We know we are watching an episonage/spy movie when a cool character/hero:

(a) try to outwit other pursuers,

(b) the hero make use of sophisticated gadgets,

(c) bangs every chicks he met, or

(d) churns out awkward/cool liner (pick one, will you?)

Our hero here ticks the boxes of (a) and (b) only. But don’t be fool by the lack of typical spy’s character. Jason is no ordinary spy, he is a deadly assassin, trained to adapt and escape from cul de sac situation, Forget about the evergreen James Bond who are adored by our fathers, forget about the NATO (No Action, Talk Only) Harrison Ford’s Jack Ryan, Move over, the un-funky and laughable Vin Diesel’s XXX. Jason Bourne AKA David Webb is in fact, the coolest spy since the turn of the new millennium, SowYau will tell you why, and oh, by the way, in Bourne definition, item (b) is refer to MacGyver-ism, meaning the ability to turn a common stuff to a weapon or a handy object.

First thing first, SowYau do not read any of the adapted novels wrote by Robert Ludlum (the movies loosely based on). In this latest installment and part 3 of the Bourne Series, the hero here Jason Bourne is an amnesiac whose main objective is to search for his real identity. This holds true as the basic plot for all 3 movies. The 1st one, Bourne Identity is the introduction, the next one, Bourne Supremacy is about how Jason was framed for a crime he didn’t commit and his subsequence quest for vengeance.

An interesting note you should know before you watch Ultimatum is, the ending of the first sequel, Bourne Supremacy, is being use as the main premise for Ultimatum. i.e. Why Jason went back to New York City to look for CIA agent, Pamela Landy(well played by Joan Allen)? Please look out for the impressive Waterloo Station sequence, an intense, nail biting piece of action.

A Bourne movie is never complete without a car chase sequence. This time, it’s involving motorcycles in tight, Tangier’s streets. And later in the midst of busy New York City traffic, we are treated with another great car chase sequence whereby Jason driving a police patrol car. Nevertheless, SowYau’s favourite so far is the Moscow’s messy, nauseating car chase sequence in Bourne Supremacy.

Talk about nauseating, many are complains about the shaky camera work, especially during action sequence. SowYau actually prefer it that way because without it, the hand to hand combat fighting between Jason and Desh The Assets will not be realistic enough, realistic as if we, as audience are closely involve in the fight, the seemingly chaotic but efficient editing during the 2 men fighting also contribute to the authentic effect. Needless to say, you do not need the great kung fu master Yuen Wo Ping to choreograph Matt Damon how to fight as long as you know how to use camera and well, scissors for editing. Anyway, between a Neo (Keanu Reeves) fighting so “woodenly” in a simulation room in The Matrix, and Jason Bourne using a hardcover book frantically striking opponent's stomach, of course you will know which one SowYau prefer, right?

There are some plot's flaws SowYau observed, notably ***medium spoiler ahead*** how and why Jason Bourne can easily access to CIA operation office building, please do not tell me he has the access card to enter, it must be the CIA staffs sleeping on the job, eh? Also, he does not need to disguise himself while passing through the US custom checkpoints, i can understand he is able to roam freely in Europe by using different passports, but here is USA, surely he is one of the most wanted man in US by CIA or FBI? no? ***end of spoiler***

Ultimately, SowYau is giving The Bourne Ultimatum a solid 4 stars out of 5. You may ask is it the best in the series? are we expecting a 4th part? the answer is yes, it is the best among 3, but by no means belittling the previous 2 installments. We also can expect a next sequel due to the over whelming box office success worldwide, grossing more than US 400 millions (The highest among 3). By the end of this movie, we finally knew who he is, what was the cause of the operation he enlisted for? who are the real big wigs responsible for it? blah blah... therefore, a full circle comes round for the third act of trilogy. By the time the next adventure awaiting the ever-ready Jason Bourne, you bet SowYau is ready as well.

1 star = Pathetic, SowYau feel ashamed of watching it
2 stars = Off the mark material, approach with caution
3 stars = Generally good, you should watch it if it's your favourite genre
4 stars = excellent, strongly recommended
5 stars = A classic status? only time will tell. But it is definitely in SowYau's Hall of Fame List.