Angelina Jolie's Salt: When Hollywood Gets Espionage Right!
Angelina Jolie: Action Star Extraordinaire!
Angelina Jolie is a total Hollywood icon! While she's maybe not doing as many films now as back in the 2000s, her impact remains enormous! From Girl, Interrupted (1999) to action flicks like Alexander (2004), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), The Good Shepherd (2006), and Wanted (2008), Jolie has constantly shown her ability to master various roles. She has this almost supernatural talent, and became instantly recognizable and extremely popular amongst several different demographic groups. Her action hero roles are unforgettable– those Tomb Raider movies and Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021) and Eternals (2021) completely show off just how incredible she really is!
But get this—her skill also extends into those more nuanced spy thriller genres. And it’s exactly that expertise which this particular article discusses in relation to Salt; showing exactly just why this might deserve an additional rewatch even after it is not mentioned as often as those other iconic titles she had previously starred in!
A Spy's Perspective: A Double Agent's Take on Salt's Accuracy
Salt (2010), directed by Phillip Noyce, features Jolie as Evelyn Salt, a CIA operative wrongly accused of being a Russian sleeper agent. This action-packed thriller includes an unforgettable loyalty test–Salt must watch her husband get shot, cold-blooded, all at the hands of her Russian handlers; showing how intense and dangerous that type of espionage can become, making this action sequence far more intense than the earlier fight sequences.
Now here’s where things get fascinating! Naveed Jamali, a former double agent, appeared in a Insider video to discuss just how accurate this particular aspect really was! This is important: He finds that specific scene to be largely believable. Sure, it’s on the extreme end. But Jamali stressed that such brutal loyalty tests in spy life are totally standard. They are always used to filter out unreliable people and that makes sense in that context; this aspect perfectly fits into the existing storyline, while raising even deeper levels of complexity. And while he does point out an additional scene regarding disinformation being presented in plausible forms to distract the real spies; he also emphasized that aspect that creates more of a critical, complex narrative element for these scenarios. Those comments (check out the video—it starts around 17:33):
"So, when we see Salt essentially having a walk-in say that she is a Russian agent, which in fact does turn out to be some level of true because she’s a double agent, actually, there are instances historically where the allegiance of certain assets or case officers has been questioned, both correctly and incorrectly. So it is not outside the realm of possibility that a hostile intelligence service would shoot, essentially, disinformation to try to confuse the allegiance and tie up that intelligence service. So, in the scene we just saw in Salt where her husband is executed in front of her, it’s an extreme test of loyalty. And while I don’t know that violence is always something that’s used, loyalty is constantly tested. It wasn’t so much about what you said in terms of believability, like to being loyal, but rather answering questions consistently. Actually, I’m going to give it an eight [out of 10]. I think that the concept of testing loyalty is important, and that is something that is continuously done for as long as you’re working.”
What This Means for Salt’s Legacy
Salt was one of Jolie’s last big action roles and proved to be commercially successful. The $110 million budget film generated approximately $293.5 million globally—meaning that this action thriller succeeded financially, even surpassing its break-even estimates.
Critically, though, it’s a bit more complicated! Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes sit around 62% for critics and 59% audience– which means mixed critical reception for audiences overall, as various plots were judged poorly by certain viewers! But that expert seal of approval regarding its portrayal of that espionage accuracy certainly provides another reason to check it out especially when thinking about that intense loyalty test—that dramatic scene itself being praised.
Conclusion: An Unexpectedly Accurate Thriller from an Action Hero
Angelina Jolie's portrayal is amazing! Even if there's still debate surrounding Salt's overall impact— even after having seen an expert in this particular field assess that certain parts of it, some very specific plot details had been fairly accurate; showcasing that those choices weren’t random – those specific and calculated decisions greatly affected what that audience felt concerning its legitimacy and impact, as that particular film succeeded and established its fame precisely by achieving what a spy thriller should; using high drama; action sequences that never quite became dull and by providing unexpected plots within those exciting storylines that are engaging for an action thriller. If you haven’t watched it lately; rewatching this film is certainly well-worth your time!
