Salt

Directed by Phillip Noyce
Columbia Pictures



The Cold War may be over (or not, given the recent New York City-based Russian spy scandal), but it’s alive and well in Salt, the new action adventure thriller directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Angelina Jolie. Originally intended to be a vehicle for Tom Cruise (until he bowed out, citing that the role would be too similar to his work in the Mission Impossible franchise), the film was then refashioned for Jolie. Here she plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent who is accused by a Russian defector of being a spy. In the wake of the news stories swirling around real-life Russian spy Anna Chapman, the release of this film couldn’t be more timely. Thankfully, it’s also tremendous fun, even if the plot is so outlandish that to truly enjoy it you’ll need to suspend all brain activity once you enter the theater.

One of my problems with Jolie is, unlike other actresses in her age range (e.g. Kate Winslet), she is not a particularly emotive actress; in fact, I often find both her onscreen and off-screen appearances to be utterly glacial, devoid of all warmth and vulnerability. That visceral frigidity works perfectly in Salt, and from a feminist point of view, it’s refreshing to see a woman (who does have a magnetic screen presence–coldness notwithstanding) headline an action adventure thriller.

Whether she’s creating a bomb out of office furniture or executing some insane stunt that has to be seen to be believed, Jolie acts with abandon and brio. She’s terrifically riveting as we follow Salt engaging in all sorts of high- and low-tech derring-do to elude capture. There doesn’t seem to be anything too preposterous for the character to do to get herself out of a bind. Watching Salt stage one mayhem after another is exciting in itself.

The screenplay by Kurt Wimmer is packed with action and dialogue that is equally absorbing and inane. But thanks to the velocity of the film’s direction, coupled with the the star’s investment and charisma, Salt emerges as this summer’s best popcorn film. Judging by the open-ended conclusion of the film, this could become another action franchise. Go see it, but remember to forget about logic when you buy your ticket.

Review by Iris Dorbian

Cross-posted at Films For Women

Knight and Day

Directed by James Mangold
20th Century Fox



I’ve read almost universally bad reviews for Knight and Day, and I read most of them before I saw the movie. I don’t usually read reviews of a movie before I see it, because I don’t want my opinion to be tainted; in this case, they might’ve been, because I went into the movie with hyper-low expectations. That may have played a hand, because I actually really enjoyed the movie.

In the world of most critics, this admission will mean I’m a sell out and have no taste whatsoever, but I’m getting to the age where I don’t care anymore. I’m not a studio plant, and I don’t love everything, as I get accused of so often when I admit liking a movie that bombs. I like what I like, I hate what I hate, and I’ll tell you why for both.

For starters, Knight and Day did a lot of things very right, like the casting. We all think Tom Cruise is a little bit crazy in real life, and whether you believe any of the hype or not, that’s what his public image has become. But here’s the thing about actors: they’re acting. And their personal beliefs shouldn't be a factor. Here, Cruise plays a wacky, at times out of control, spy. By embracing some of the stereotypes he has come to represent he’s saying, “I’m in on the joke.” It’s the best move he could’ve possibly made, and I haven’t enjoyed him this much in many, many moons.

Cameron Diaz is also perfectly cast as the neurotic female lead. She’s become well known for her high-strung roles, and here she is frequently given the chance to use that squealing and panicking for laughs. She gets a better story arc, unlike some of her other perma-wackos, like her character in Being John Malkovich, for example. Amazing movie and she’s great in it, but she doesn’t get the chance to change much in that. Here, we’re treated to seeing her character learn how to literally roll with the punches and find some long-missing fulfillment in her adventure as she learns how to handle herself and even begins to feed off of the danger she is surrounded by. (The more discerning viewer will look for character symbolism involving the car she is working on in the film.)

One of the greatest complaints about Knight and Day is that there is a device used to take us from scene to scene wherein Cameron Diaz’s character is drugged, meaning we miss out on some of the action of how they get from point A to point B. As a feminist, it would’ve bothered me for its potential date rape allusions, but after the first time, Diaz’s character asks to be drugged, so that pretty much solved my problem of her having her free will taken away. There's also a conclusion to the whole drugging thing that will bring closure to any one that still finds it troublesome.

The best thing about Knight and Day for me was the escapism. Beautiful locations shot well with some great action pieces is the definition of a fun summer popcorn movie. I do believe I’ll have to catch this again in theaters. That’s how much I liked it. All I wanted was to have fun and this movie delivered, and then some. I say, go see it. Just let yourself go and relax and try to forget the actor's personal lives and all the critics telling you to hate it. If you do hate it, hate it for your own reasons, and not because someone told you to on a movie review site.

Review by Audrey M. Brown

Excerpted from Born for Geekdom

Iron Man 2

Directed by Jon Favreau
Paramount Pictures



Before Iron Man hit theatres in 2008, most of us thought of Jon Favreau as the guy who was so money, baby—and he didn't even know it. Critics and audiences expected little from yet another Marvel Comic-inspired film. So when director Favreau delivered an entertaining film with tons of personality (mostly in the form of the amazing Robert Downey Jr.), it was an underdog smash. And what should logically follow an over-performing film (or an under-performing one, for that matter) but a sequel?

Iron Man 2 reintroduces weapons contractor and physicist extraordinaire Tony Stark as the unmasked Iron Man, combating politicians who want Stark to share his Iron Man technology with the U.S. government for security. There's plenty to glean about private property rights and government corruption in this conflict, but you'll have to visit some other blog to satisfy your government paranoia.

While Stark tries to keep his intellectual property out of U.S. government's and the military's hands, he's also contending with an old, Russian grudge-holder (Mickey Rourke), a suspicious but ogle-worthy new executive assistant (Scarlett Johansson), and his ever-nagging, inexplicable love interest Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). All the while, he's scrambling to find the combination of elements that will power his suit and his heart without slowly poisoning his blood.

There are plenty of feminist elements at play here. First, we deal with the Pepper problem. The original film featured the frigid and nagging yet doggedly loyal Pepper Pots in a supportive role to the womanizing and sarcastic Tony. The only thing that really distinguished her was that she slut-shames the women Tony sleeps with, and Paltrow looks bad in bangs. In the sequel, Tony promotes her to CEO of his company on a whim. Although she faces major scrutiny for her complete lack of experience, she deftly handles the company's affairs in a turbulent time. Unfortunately, Pepper's main purpose here is still to hurl more insults at the reporter Tony slept with in the first film (Leslie Bibb), whose investigation played a key role in the plot, and glare at the new women Tony wants to sleep with: Natalie Rushman. After Tony meets Natalie for the first time, he declares, "I want one."

For her part, Natalie could have been the classic femme fatale. Her character is smart, accomplished, all business, and completely badass. She's an excellent employee, and although Tony attempts to play Pepper and Natalie off each other in a competition of feminine wiles, Natalie doesn't seem interested in anything but getting the job done, even in spite of Tony's constant sexual harassment. The two women do briefly talk to each other about something other than a man a time or two, so Iron Man 2 does (barely) pass the Bechdel Test.

However, these two female characters face some sexism individually, in addition to some more general woman-hating. At one point, the leader of the secret 'good guys club' (Samuel L. Jackson) uses the fact that Tony "made a girl your CEO" to prove that he is going off the deep end. (The other reason was that he got drunk, and basically destroyed his house with his Iron Man suit.) The problem isn't that Pepper has no experience leading a multi-billion dollar company or that she doesn't have the necessary leadership style, it's that she's a "girl." (Although Pepper's age isn't specified, Paltrow is 38-years-old, by the way; she is hardly a girl.) Apparently it's just as stupid to hire a 'girl' to be a CEO as it is to basically drunk-drive a weaponized suit around dozens of party guests.

In another scene, creepy contractor Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) asks his colleagues to get "these bitches out of here" when Pepper and Natalie take over the reins of Hammer's weapons demonstration that turned deadly. Luckily for my temper, Natalie puts him in a headlock moments later, and the two women clean up his mess before Pepper has him arrested.

Finally, in a well-trodden cheap shot at married women (oh, what ballbusting harpies we are), Hammer describes the potential for utter devastation held by a missile he's selling to the U.S. Air Force. What does he dub this harbinger of death? The Ex-Wife.

There's more to say, especially about Pepper and Tony's fraught and completely uninteresting flirtation (I know how to shut her up: I'll kiss her), but I've hit on the main points: slut-shaming, sexual harassment, girls are stupid, girls are bitches, and marriage sucks the life out of men. Thanks for making analysis so simple, Iron Man 2.

Yes, it's possible to like a movie and still deplore its messaging on women. But be aware of what you're watching.

Review by Smalls

Cross-posted at Ladybrain Reviews

Kick-Ass

Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Marv Films



Kick-Ass, the movie, ruled. And though I thought the central character's journey was an interesting one, by far the movie appealed to me because of eleven-year-old Hit Girl. I had a big plan to dissect the movie here, but then this gal over at Jezebel totally stole my brain and wrote the most eloquent review ever. (I'll get to that in a minute.)

In a nutshell, this movie made me cringe, laugh, turn my head away from the screen in horror, and many times think, "I'm really uncomfortable with that," followed by, "I think. Am I?" For an action movie that originated in comic form, that's saying something. I usually have clear and distinct opinions about things, and use my mental arsenal of academic blatherings to back it all up. At the end of this film I knew two things for sure:

1) I liked it. It made me think. About violence, gender, and heroes.

2) I disliked intensely the parents who brought their kids (some of whom were as young as six years old) to this film. They didn't even seem distressed walking out of the theater. It was, like, no big deal that their young kids had watched a man being put into a giant microwave and exploding into bits. And now I had to feel shitty for vocalizing my love for gratuitous violence and vengeance-fueled murder because I just endorsed that ideology in front of kindergarteners. So thanks.

Anywayz.

I like super-violent films, I love comics, I love female characters, and so I tolerate a lot of crap movies and am willing to suspend a certain measure of disbelief and accept that some jerk-off was hired to "punch up" a script to sell the movie to a teen male demographic. And I know that if this movie got greenlit primarily because someone managed to get Halle Barry to play the female lead, you probably aren't gonna try to butch her up and have her wear something that would be more realistic for running after bad guys. I get that it's a business run by dudes, for dudes, and that it primarily showcases the fantasies of dudes. But for a small shining moment, we got Hit-Girl. And I am all for a sequel based totally on her.

"In Defense of Hit Girl" over at Jezebel should be read even if you never plan on seeing this movie. It's a great defense of the action genre by a feminist, and not the "it's just entertainment" or the "it's not a movie you should spend time thinking too much about" defense. And for the record, I'm a pacifist and a scaredy-cat. I've never been in a fight, nor do I plan to, but I ♥ violent cinema, especially warrior women characters. It's a thing.

I'm thinking this will make for an awesome Halloween costume, btw.

Review by Sandra Falero

Cross-posted from Sweet Lady