Time for some thrilling heroics!
Aug. 2nd, 2010 11:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grimorieI was supposed to watch Inception yesterday but I ended up watching Salt instead.
Oh, my GAAAAAH! I didn't know what I was expecting coming in but I got more than my money's worth. I'm still gonna watch Inception but Salt isn't a bad second choice. I mean... I was mostly lukewarm to Salt because while I knew it was a spy movie I didn't what it was really about other than vague outlines of a spy movie but really, this movie proves once again that it's how you tell a story.
Jolie's Evelyn Salt is like watching a female version of Jason Bourne and that's saying something. I heard that this movie was meant to be for Tom Cruise and I'm glad for whatever reason Jolie got the part because this is just made for her, Cruise would have just given the same lacklustre performance he's been giving since Mission Impossible.
And, aside from the torture scene during the introduction, the camera didn't treat Salt any different, there were no lingering shots it was all business and it reminds me so much of how Olivia Dunham is treated in Fringe. In that the camera and the story makes no distinction or allowances or different story telling just because the character was a woman. Plus, I'm so, so glad Chiwetel Ejiofor didn't end up as someone against Salt.
I would watch the sequel in a heartbeat. I loved the moment where Salt goes to the Russian HQ, is invited in and no sooner does she see her abducted husband, he gets shot right in front of her and there's just this amazing moment where you think she'd react, that she'd lose it but then she takes a breath and looks to her mentor/handler and asks in Russian: 'Satisfied?'
(On a side note, I was really, really surprised that they allowed the husband to die. I mean it's happened before in spy TV shows not spy films I watched! It's always the wife/girlfriend fridged in movies!)
She's welcomed back home but my God. My God. The next scene where she guts the whole crew is just amazing, her face is completely shut down and cold and just *flaaails* not to mention the scene with handcuffs near the end!
What I also liked is, how after Evelyn was saved from North Korea and reveals to her soon-to-be husband that she was CIA and they can never have a life together... and she just folds into herself, its all underplayed. And I love it, that was the moment when I really realize how the camera treats Evelyn, there's no loving, lingering shots on her injuries just... it's there observing this really tender and fragile moment between Evelyn and Michael and how Evelyn folds into herself as everything seems to be crashing down on her.
Whoever decided that Jolie play the role instead of Cruise should be given major props. And if this makes a female lead spy franchise? All the better!
Someone write me a Bourne/Salt crossover or better a Fringe/Salt crossover! Olivia and Evelyn are soo alike both were trained to be soldiers at a young age and they both roll with the punches and do absolutely everything to do what they think is right.
Oh, man, imagine if M was their boss! M and Broyles!
---
Speaking of Fringe...
I really like what I keep reading about in the spoilers. I like how the writers seem very intrigue about answering as they call it, the nature of soul or how different/same a character is because of upbringing and their choices. I'm also glad they seem as fascinated as we are about the alt!verse! But especially, I like this:
I really like that they're really addressing the loss of Olivia's choices because of the Cortexiphan experiments, I like that they know that's an issue and it gives me hope they'll address this issue well. I'm actually constantly impressed that the showrunners are really exploring what it means to be taken at such a young age and changed the way Walter and William changed Olivia and the other children and that the show doesn't side with Walter. It was wrong for Walter and William Bell to experiment on Olivia and even though some of her abilities are helping it doesn't change the fact that they abused children.
I no longer feel anxious about Olivia being shortchanged because of how she was left because now I have a feeling the writers will really maintain Olivia's agency.
I also love how Anna Torv goes to describe the differences between the Olivias: our!Olivia wants to be better but alt!Olivia wants to win and that's so true! I also love how Anna is quick to defend alt!Olivia and say that she isn't evil only that she has a different perspective on things, which really from their POV, the original 'verse is coming out as villains especially in light of what happened to their world!
I'm very much looking forward to the start of next season especially as it seems like the writers and even the actors are on the ball about what the fans want to see because it's also what they want to see!
Oh, my GAAAAAH! I didn't know what I was expecting coming in but I got more than my money's worth. I'm still gonna watch Inception but Salt isn't a bad second choice. I mean... I was mostly lukewarm to Salt because while I knew it was a spy movie I didn't what it was really about other than vague outlines of a spy movie but really, this movie proves once again that it's how you tell a story.
Jolie's Evelyn Salt is like watching a female version of Jason Bourne and that's saying something. I heard that this movie was meant to be for Tom Cruise and I'm glad for whatever reason Jolie got the part because this is just made for her, Cruise would have just given the same lacklustre performance he's been giving since Mission Impossible.
And, aside from the torture scene during the introduction, the camera didn't treat Salt any different, there were no lingering shots it was all business and it reminds me so much of how Olivia Dunham is treated in Fringe. In that the camera and the story makes no distinction or allowances or different story telling just because the character was a woman. Plus, I'm so, so glad Chiwetel Ejiofor didn't end up as someone against Salt.
I would watch the sequel in a heartbeat. I loved the moment where Salt goes to the Russian HQ, is invited in and no sooner does she see her abducted husband, he gets shot right in front of her and there's just this amazing moment where you think she'd react, that she'd lose it but then she takes a breath and looks to her mentor/handler and asks in Russian: 'Satisfied?'
(On a side note, I was really, really surprised that they allowed the husband to die. I mean it's happened before in spy TV shows not spy films I watched! It's always the wife/girlfriend fridged in movies!)
She's welcomed back home but my God. My God. The next scene where she guts the whole crew is just amazing, her face is completely shut down and cold and just *flaaails* not to mention the scene with handcuffs near the end!
What I also liked is, how after Evelyn was saved from North Korea and reveals to her soon-to-be husband that she was CIA and they can never have a life together... and she just folds into herself, its all underplayed. And I love it, that was the moment when I really realize how the camera treats Evelyn, there's no loving, lingering shots on her injuries just... it's there observing this really tender and fragile moment between Evelyn and Michael and how Evelyn folds into herself as everything seems to be crashing down on her.
Whoever decided that Jolie play the role instead of Cruise should be given major props. And if this makes a female lead spy franchise? All the better!
Someone write me a Bourne/Salt crossover or better a Fringe/Salt crossover! Olivia and Evelyn are soo alike both were trained to be soldiers at a young age and they both roll with the punches and do absolutely everything to do what they think is right.
Oh, man, imagine if M was their boss! M and Broyles!
---
Speaking of Fringe...
I really like what I keep reading about in the spoilers. I like how the writers seem very intrigue about answering as they call it, the nature of soul or how different/same a character is because of upbringing and their choices. I'm also glad they seem as fascinated as we are about the alt!verse! But especially, I like this:
Wyman said. ”We had conversations with Anna about how we were constructing roles for her. We know we’ve written Olivia as a character who’s burdened by her job, and the Cortexiphan experiments done to her as a child are really in one way or another a form of child abuse.
“They robbed her of a lot of choices in her life. She’s grown up in that shadow and to subconsciously be prepared, like a soldier, for an oncoming something.
“She wears the dark clothing and doesn’t form relationships easily as she’s very protective of herself and her emotions, while at the same time being a protector of everybody else. We knew we wanted to create her doppelganger unburdened by those same responsibilities.”
I really like that they're really addressing the loss of Olivia's choices because of the Cortexiphan experiments, I like that they know that's an issue and it gives me hope they'll address this issue well. I'm actually constantly impressed that the showrunners are really exploring what it means to be taken at such a young age and changed the way Walter and William changed Olivia and the other children and that the show doesn't side with Walter. It was wrong for Walter and William Bell to experiment on Olivia and even though some of her abilities are helping it doesn't change the fact that they abused children.
I no longer feel anxious about Olivia being shortchanged because of how she was left because now I have a feeling the writers will really maintain Olivia's agency.
I also love how Anna Torv goes to describe the differences between the Olivias: our!Olivia wants to be better but alt!Olivia wants to win and that's so true! I also love how Anna is quick to defend alt!Olivia and say that she isn't evil only that she has a different perspective on things, which really from their POV, the original 'verse is coming out as villains especially in light of what happened to their world!
I'm very much looking forward to the start of next season especially as it seems like the writers and even the actors are on the ball about what the fans want to see because it's also what they want to see!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 04:59 pm (UTC)How awesome was that? I swear, that was the most badass thing I've seen in FOREVER!
I agree with your comments on the movie and on Fringe. I think it's the show I'm most excited about, come fall.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 05:27 pm (UTC)I really cannot wait for Fall. Why so far away, fall?