Oscars in Black and White

The Nominations:

• Sound Mixing

The Black-and-White:

A review by spacedcowboy

A fine action, suspense movie, and as such, Salt mostly succeeds. Fine acting, interesting story, unrelenting action.

Plot synopsis from imdb.com:

Evelyn Salt is a CIA agent and highly respected by all, including her boss, Ted Winter. Out of the blue, a Russian spy walks into their offices and offers a vital piece of information: the President of Russia will be assassinated during his forthcoming visit to New York City to attend the funeral of the recently deceased U.S. Vice President. The name of the assassin: Evelyn Salt. Concerned about the safety of her husband, who she cannot contact, she goes on the run. Winter refuses to accept that she is a mole or a double agent but her actions begin to raise doubts. Just who is Evelyn Salt and what is she planning?

Given that Salt only garnered a single Academy nod (sound mixing), I will keep my remarks brief.

As a fluff action film: it’s fine. Jolie has chops in this arena, and continues to deliver here.

As a franchise: though this story tried oh-so-hard to set up a multifilm possibility for Evelyn Salt, I think it fell short. We just don’t engage deeply enough to be yearning to see more; Salt was enough. Having said that, I may be missing the business-side of an Angelina Jolie action franchise and we may yet see more. To me, Salt holds it own with the testostarone-driven Bourne series, and we have had no end of that.

Apropos to the nomination for “sound mixing”: this is a category that has challenged me in the past. However knowing the nomination for Salt prior to viewing helped. Up against Inception, The Kings’ Speech, The Social Network, and True Grit, Salt more than held its own. This is a movie driven by sound and fury, and the sound mixing was well done. Continuous, multilayered and complex, the sound was another character in the movie.

Nod? Deserved. Award? Perhaps.