Salt Script Review

Published by Jeff Leins on: November 7th, 2009

When Kurt Wimmer’s (Equilibrium) script for Salt was originally picked up by Columbia Pictures, Tom Cruise was attached for the lead.  However, scheduling conflicts or it’s resemblance to Mission: Impossible caused him to take a walk, leaving the role wide open for Angelina Jolie.

A few gender tweaks were all they needed to turn this Cold War thriller into an action vehicle for a strong woman.  Having read the script, audiences are in for one hell of an awesome flick in July 2010.

The trailer indicates there have been some changes since Wimmer’s draft, which received rewrites by Brian Helgeland (Oscar winning screenwriter of Mystic River).  For example, a key assassination attempt is shown as an explosion rather than the sniper operation described in the script’s quickly-turning pages.  But it’s clear from the trailer that one thing remains as the core element in the film: this is about Salt kicking heaping amounts of ass.

One pivotal scene in particular is shown at length in the promo.  After some playful banter with long-time agent friend Winter (Liev Schrieber), Salt is headed home when a walk-in surrenders himself at the security gate.  In the interrogation room, the agency learns the man is a Russian spy willing to defect and bearing sensitive info.

Told through flashbacks, the man describes a Russian infant turned over to a secret government program commissioned to harden potential super spies.  Children are pitted against each other and drilled incessantly to create the toughest, brightest, and — most importantly — pseudo-American spy.  The fittest to survive is sent to the U.S. to infiltrate deep into enemy intelligence.

Salt listens to the story intently before asking for the mole’s name.  Finally the Russian traitor says, “Edwin A. Salt” (now Evelyn).  CIA forces converge, Salt eventually gives them the slip, and Winter and Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) pursue.

Comparisons to the Jason Bourne series are to be expected.  After all, this is a spy-chasing thriller about a superior human weapon.  But where the finest similarities lie are in the extreme pacing and the brutal hand-to-hand combat.  Once the action is turned up to 11, it never lets up.  Guards and trained agents are dispatched with bone-breaking precision, gun battles leave only one (wo)man standing, and vehicles skid through road blocks as the perimeter tightens.

At one point Salt fashions a rocket launcher out of office objects — like some sort of lethal MacGyver — before blowing a hole for an exit.  In another, Salt is snatching a bullet from a gun’s slide and ejecting the magazine in a swift motion to disarm an attacker.  These aren’t exactly realistic sequences, but in the context of a super assassin built from birth they fit.

The climax, if left intact, will be the most memorable moment of the film.  Director Phillip Noyce had a challenging task, but this action set piece could end up alongside the True Lies bridge scene and The Matrix Reloaded’s highway battle as an amazing high-speed chase.

There are a multitude of twists in the plot as the script (and ultimately the summer movie) take you on a ride with the super spy.  Law Abiding Citizen proved a well-written screenplay can be ruined by an inept director, but Noyce’s record and Jolie’s involvement spell good things for this fun script.  I can’t wait for the film.