Liev Schreiber | pinartarhan.com

Salt starring Angelina Jolie & Liev Schreiber

Plot

CIA Agent Evelyn Salt is (Angelina Jolie) happilly married to the German scientist Mike Krause (August Diehl), and is getting along great with her co-worker Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber). And she can’t wait to quit the operations for a desk job, and celebrate her upcoming anniversary. Her plans get completely screwed up, however, when a Russian walk-in suggests that he has valuable information. He tells Salt, and the listening agents, that Russia has successfully raised Russian sleeper agents who fought marvelously, lied very convincingly and spoke English with genuine American accents. The more he reveals, the more the other agents believe him. And soon, he drops the actual bomb: Evelyn Salt is one of those agents, and her mission is to kill the Russian President who is in town to attend the American V.P.’s funeral. Ted tries to convince the CIA not to jump to conclusions, but they are determined to interrogate Evelyn. Evelyn realizes that she has to run for 3 reasons: to protect her husband, to save the Russian President and to clear her name.

Evelyn barely manages to escape, and the Russian walk-in Orlov proves to be deadlier than given credit for. When Evelyn can’t reach her husband, she takes a different kind of route: She acts like the Russian spy she is believed to be, what we are convinced that she just might be. Now, was she acting when she was Evelyn Salt? Is she really a Russian spy? And if she is, which one of her identities is more dominant?

Is it any good?

Salt is a very fast-paced and highly entertaining action film where the female protagonist has all the cool moves and improvisations. Yes, the story’s twists are predictable. But worry not, the predictability is a part of the charm. After all, we are more interested in how and why Evelyn kicks ass, as well whose ass she is going to kick.

The screenwriter is Kurt Wimmer, one of my favorites ever since he wrote Law Abiding Citizen & Equilibrium. Directed by Philip Noyce.

Recommended for the fans of Angelina Jolie and the fans of the genre.

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Also on Liev Schreiber

The Painted Veil starring Edward Norton, Naomi Watts & Live Scheiber

Just beautiful. Nothing is over the top. One of the best emotional journeys on cinema. A Painted Veil with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts.

1920s. Kitty (Naomi Watts) and Walter (Edward Norton) have absolutely nothing in common. Walter is a shy, smart, and awkward bacteriologist who falls in love with Kitty at first sight at a party.

Kitty is the ultimate social girl: she loves going out, playing the piano and being the center of attention.

She probably wouldn’t even consider marrying Walter if she hadn’t been dying to escape her dreadful mother; who was already announcing news of engagement even when Kitty wasn’t remotely interested in Walter. So she finds herself in China, bored to death with her nerdy husband. That’s when she finds herself having an affair with and falling for the charming but married diplomat Charlie Townsend (played by Naomi’s real life partner Liev Schreiber).

When Walter finds out, he gives her two options: he can divorce her right away or she has to go to the cholera struck region of China with him. She has overestimated Charlie both as a man and a lover. He refuses to divorce his wife, just as Walter predicts.

This is the perfect punishment for an unfaithful wife: isolated in a country with only one native English speaker as neighbor. The marriage isn’t a happy one for Walter either, but he is mostly busy with his patients. As Kitty makes an effort to redeem herself and mingle with people of the church, the couple begins to see each other for they really are and the coldness is eventually replaced with love and respect.

The Painted Veil with Naomi Watts and Edward Norton — Kitty and Walter, Belatedly in love

The Painted Veil is absolutely beautiful. It is delicate and sincere. The scenery is amazing and the acting is top notch. But then again, I wasn’t expecting any less from Edward Norton and Naomi Watts. I have been an admirer of Norton’s ever since I saw him in Primal Fear. Still, it was the first time I saw him as a romantic lead in a romantic period drama and he is just excellent at this. I also like it more if the movie is produced by the leading actors so they have more say in scenes and Watts and Norton have made brilliant choices.

The movie was directed by John Curran in 2006. Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham.

This is one of those movies that if a guy doesn’t like it, you can rightfully dismiss him as heartless. Well, kidding aside, it would be a very shallow attempt to label this one as a chick flick. It is a multi-dimensional story with multi-dimensional characters. Don’t miss out on it, regardless of your genre preference and gender.