"Repeaters" Trailer

There's a new Canadian sci-fi thriller called Repeaters, and the trailer is out.

The film is basically a much, much darker version of Groundhog Day, but with a group of people experiencing the repetitiveness instead of just one person.

The film stars Dustin Milligan (Final Destination 3), Amanda Crew (Charlie St. Cloud), Richard de Klerk (Bang Bang You're Dead), and is directed by Carl Bessai (Normal).



Here is the official synopsis:

REPEATERS is an aggressive, fast-paced thriller with an important moral question: what would you do if you knew that everyday you started over with a clean slate? Sonia, Kyle and Weeks are three cynical outsiders fed up with the peer groups and the perceived injustices inflicted upon their early adult lives. Forced into mandatory rehab, the trio is given a day pass to attempt to complete step nine on the path to recovery - make direct amends with those they have wronged in the past. The following morning, they begin to notice a strange, eerie repetitiveness to their day. The day’s events play out exactly like their memory of the previous day: people are carrying on the same conversations, and on the television, the morning news repeats the previous day’s broadcast. When the trio reconvene to discuss what happened to them the night before they realize that a shared experience is what is causing the day to repeat. They awake the next morning to find that their fear of reliving a same day over again is confirmed. Upon acceptance of their predicament, the three begin to behave with more confidence and bravado because surely their misdeeds will be erased if the day continues to repeat itself. Accordingly, they set out pulling pranks and committing petty revenges, but things soon escalate, culminating in the torture and kidnapping of a rival.

"The Three Musketeers" Photos

The latest pictures are out on the net of Paul W. S. Anderson's newest flick, The Three Musketeers.

The three pictures include Mads Mikkelsen as Rochefort, Logan Lerman as D'Artagnan, and Anderson himself on the set of the film.  Click the jump for a few more!

The cast also includes Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom and Christopher Waltz. The movie will open on April 15, 2011 in 3D.

"Ghost Rider" Sequel Titled "Spirit of Vengeance," Takes Place In Europe In 3D

I guess the headline says it all, doesn't it? MTV is reporting that the Nicolas Cage starring Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, will in fact be in 3D, just when the trend was starting to die down a bit. But the cooler news is that it will take place in Europe, something Cage lobbied for, I guess.

The movie will film in Romania, home of Dracula... which sounds like it will be incorporated into the story somehow. Cage was quoted saying, "I'll be filming it in Romania, which is exciting, since that's where Dracula's castle is, the Ghost Rider has to ride up to Dracula's castle." Pretty cool stuff.

The movie starts production in a couple of months and Eva Mendes will NOT be in the movie, thank goodness! She was God awful in the first film where she was reduced to nothing more than cleavage shots. I'm still excited about this considering David S. Goyer is writing and the Crank men, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, are directing.

Satoshi Kon Dies at Age 47

We regret to inform you that Satoshi Kon, the director behind many amazing Anime movies, including Paprika, a film which heavily influenced Inception, has passed away at the young age of 47 after losing a tough battle with cancer.

The director was working on his upcoming film, The Dream Machine.

May he rest in peace.

Below, a trailer for Paprika, one of my favorites.

"127 Hours" Trailer

Fox Searchlight finally released a trailer for Danny Boyle's new film 127 Hours.

Danny Boyle is, of course, the award-winning director behind Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later, The Beach, Sunshine, and Trainspotting, in case you were living under a rock somewhere.

The movie's based on the true story of Aron Ralston, who had his arm crushed under a boulder while hiking. The lead is played by James Franco.
Simon Beaufoy wrote the screenplay, which is said to contain a full hour without dialogue! Wow! Beaufoy last penned Slumdog Millionaire and is a frequent collaborator with Boyle.

Click the jump for the official synopsis and trailer:

127 HOURS is the new film from Danny Boyle, the Academy Award winning director of last year’s Best Picture, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. 127 HOURS is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston’s (James Franco) remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he is finally rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers (Clemence Poesy), family, and the two hikers (Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara) he met before his accident. Will they be the last two people he ever had the chance to meet? A visceral thrilling story that will take an audience on a never before experienced journey and prove what we can do when we choose life.

I'm really excited for this one, Tonedog! What do you think?

New "Unstoppable" Poster

A few days ago Tonedog posted the trailer for the new Denzel Washington & Chris Pine flick, Unstoppable.

Well, I'm here now with a new poster.
Enjoy. Click to enlarge.

"Drew: The Man Behind the Poster" Trailer

A new film about Drew Struzan is coming out soon. Never heard of him? Well, I'm sure that you know of his work.
Struzan is the man responsible for the art of many popular movie posters, such as Star Wars, Back to the Future and Indiana Jones.

The film, Drew: The Man Behind the Poster will be a full-length documentary featuring exclusive interviews with the likes of George Lucas, Harrison Ford, Michael J. Fox, Frank Darabont, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg and many others.

Click here to watch a clip/trailer on StarWars.com.

"A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop" Trailer

Chinese director Zhang Yimou, who is probably best known in the USA for the films Hero and House of Flying Daggers has made a remake of the Coen brothers' first film, Blood Simple.

Retitled A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop, the movie now has a trailer for the North American release. Above is a comparison of the two movie posters.

I am personally a huge fan of the Coens, and hope this remake lives up to the excellent original.

Here is the official synopsis and trailer:

Wang is a miserable yet cunning noodle shop owner in a desert town in China. Feeling neglected, Wang’s wife secretly goes out with Li, one of his employees. A timid man, Li reluctantly keeps the gun the landlady bought for ‘killing her husband later’. However, not a single move they make escapes the boss’s notice, and he decides to bribe patrol officer Zhang to kill the illicit couple. It looks like a perfect plan: the affair will come to a cruel but satisfying end… or so he thinks, but the equally wicked Zhang has an agenda of his own that will lead to even more violence…

The film will be out on limited release September 3.

"The Next Three Days" Trailer

You may not remember, but about a year ago, I made a post telling you about the new Paul Haggis film The Next Three Days.

The director of Crash has been up to quite a bit since then, especially this film, which is a remake of the 2008 French film, Pour Elle. The story will revolve around a man that goes to great lengths to get his wife out of a 20-year jail term after she is arrested out of nowhere for a murder she says she didn't commit.

What do you think?

"Skyline" Poster Revealed

This poster is brought to us by shocktillyoudrop.com. The movie is Skyline, which was first unveiled at this year's Comic-Con in San Diego. I was there, saw A LOT of advertising for it, yet no one knew what it was about on the convention floor. The poster is below, after the jump. Check it out, along with a brief explanation/synopsis.

Skyline is sort of like Independence Day meets Fire in the Sky. Here is the exact synopsis from IMDb:

After a late night party, a group of friends are awoken in the dead of the night by an eerie light beaming through the window. Like moths to a flame, the light source is drawing people outside before they suddenly vanish into the air. They soon discover an otherwordly force is swallowing the entire human population off the face of the earth. Now our band of survivors must fight for their lives as the world unravels around them.

So like most of you, I'm still waiting to see a trailer before I decide if I like it or not. What do you think?

New "Buried" Poster

Just because! Click to enlarge.

Via JoBlo.com

Actor Cast in "Judge Dredd" Remake...

Well we knew they were remaking Judge Dredd, but we didn't know who would don the mask and ride the bike, until now. It's actually been rumored for a long time, but I didn't want to post until it was confirmed, and now it is. Empire magazine is confirming that Karl Urban will play the iconic comic-book hero.

Karl Urban is known for his roles in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy and more recently in J.J. Abrams Star Trek. He definitely has the physique. Not ripped and ready to pop like Sylvester Stallone was, but big and tall. Urban is a fine actor and should be able to bring some emotion to the role, even if the character is emotion-less. I liked the previous incarnation, I don't know why exactly. It had its own charm despite all its faults. I still go back and watch it on DVD every few years. But I'm also excited about this remake. But not so excited about the 3D talk, booo!

"R.I.P.D." Getting "RED" Director?

McG is out and Robert Schwentke is in. The director of the upcoming comic book adaptation film, R.E.D., will replace McG in another comic book adaptation film, R.I.P.D. from Dark Horse Comics. It's about cops policing the dead in the underworld. Cool concept huh? Above is a picture of the comic book cover.

Rumors are Ryan Reynolds a.k.a. MR. COMIC BOOK is set to star. I'm undecided about the news. I've seen some of Schwentke's work and I'm not impressed. I saw The Time Travelor's Wife and really didn't like it. And I wasn't a fan of Flightplan either. Then again, R.E.D. looks awesome based on the trailers.

McG is a horrible director in my opinion, so that works in Schwentke's favor. What do you think about A.) YET ANOTHER comic book adaptation? and B.) Schwentke directing rather than McG?

Green Lantern vs. Deadpool, Who's Going to Win?

This is not good news. Or is it news at all? The creator of the Deadpool comic is Rob Liefeld. He's Tweeting away some nonsense, at least I think it is anyway. He's accusing Warner Brothers of taking the star of Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds, away from the project. He's Tweeting that WB wants to film the Green Lantern sequel immediately, even though the first film JUST WRAPPED!

Is it me, or does this feel like an episode of Entourage? WB wanted "Vinnie Chase" to film the sequel to Aquaman, rather than filming another movie. Wow, the similarities are really interesting.
I doubt WB is going to take Reynolds away from the Deadpool movie. First of all, unless it was planned, there's no way a trilogy will be filmed on a whim like this. The writers were just hired to write the sequel.

Second, Reynolds was already committed to both Deadpool AND another film to follow the filming of Green Lantern. That's not to mention the news today about R.I.P.D. He would not cancel two, potentially three, movies to film a Green Lantern sequel.

Third, and most importantly, Reynolds has a say! The man is one of the most sought after actors in Hollywood. He can carry a franchise, or two or three; you think he's going to give up possibly 100 million dollars because WB says so? No! He campaigned for the role of Deadpool and it's an important project to him. Check out the video below to see his knowledge and passion for the character. The Deadpool movie/franchise WILL happen, with Reynolds dawning the mask, period. It was a story that really wasn't. Rob Liefeld needs to relax and cool it on the Tweets.

"The Other Guys" Review

Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay have set a pretty high standard for comedies. They've succeeded in every project they've worked on together leading up to The Other Guys. Mark Wahlberg joins them, playing a tough-guy cop forced to a desk after he shoots Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees! Ferrell plays the bumbling idiot who loves sitting behind a desk all day. The comedy is in the two characters' differences, and craziness ensues. Let's get started.

What I liked about the movie:
Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg chemistry
Wahlberg delivers... for 2/3 of the movie. His tough-guy cop character (who secretly loves to dance) is hilarious. Sudden outbursts of anger with Ferrell on the receiving end were great.

Will Ferrell is playing, yet again, the absent minded moron. There are a lot of scenes where Ferrell is the awkward schmuck in the room; his fellow officers get him to shoot his gun off at his desk, making him believe its tradition. Funny stuff.

The Supporting Actors

I have to be honest, as funny as Ferrell and Wahlberg were, their supporting cast stole the show for me. Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson are by far the funniest aspect of the first 15 minutes of the film. Their satirical look at cops and the way they're portrayed in movies is terrific. They play on every stereotype, all the way to their demise.

Rob Riggle and Damon Wayans Jr. are their replacements and do great! There is a scene where Riggle's character fights Wahlberg's character during a funeral ceremony. They roll around on the ground fighting, while only whispering as to not disrespect the family of the fallen officer. This was so funny; I was laughing so hard during this scene.

Then there is the immortal Michael Keaton. Keaton plays the captain of the police force, but the force doesn't pay enough to send his bisexual son to college. So Keaton gets another job at Bed, Bath and Beyond to help pay for his son's school. Throughout the movie, Keaton's character uses the titles of TLC songs to explain what he's thinking. The funny thing is that Keaton doesn't know they're TLC songs! He was great.


What I didn't like about the movie:
The Story
The story is pathetic at best. I follow director Adam McKay's tweets on Twitter and he talks a lot about his political views. This is all fine and dandy, but don't make it the plot of your movie just because it's something that interests you. The plot is so dumb, so preposterous, it leaves no reason to care about the characters. It's all about corporate, white-collar crimes. That's great, because it's relevant, but it doesn't make for a good story for a comedy, especially when it reaches the pinnacle of stupidity. The state lotto is about to get taken for 32 billion dollars? Come on. The police department giving up it's entire pension to invest in a scam? Come on!

Characters
The sad thing is, it looks like this is a direct contradiction of the comments I wrote above, but it's not. I told you about Wahlberg being funny 2/3 of the movie. Well, the last 1/3 he was just straight-up annoying. There was no arc to his character, no growth of any kind. Same goes for Ferrell's character. He was a bumbling idiot to start the movie, and he was a bumbling idiot to end it. I was really disappointed in that.

Then there are characters that have absolutely no purpose of being in the film whatsoever. Take, for example, Wahlberg's ex-girlfriend. He visits her at her ballet class, yells at her and her dance partner and then leaves in a fit of rage. We don't see the ex-girlfriend again for the rest of the movie. What the hell is she in the movie for? Same goes for the "villains" of the movie. Anne Heche and Steve Coogan. Both unfunny and really only in the movie to have a villain at all.

Adam McKay/ Genre
I've seen actors and directors alike do this: try a genre for the first time, and it fails. It hurts me to say this, but McKay failed, big time. The action sequences are bad, the pacing was really bad, and the story was really really bad. McKay couldn't decide what genre it was: Comedy? Action? Corporate satire? Political satire? Law enforcement satire? What was it? Also, there were bits that should have never been in the movie, nor dragged out as long as they were. Case in point, the grandma crossing the street bit. You'll see.


The Other Guys wasn't good at all. I left the theater feeling let down more than anything. Maybe McKay and Ferrell's formula for success has already reached its maximum potential. Maybe this was a good movie, but they've set the bar so high, anything less is considered bad? Well, my opinion stands. The movie is bad, underachieves and loses itself amongst too many genres for its own good. It's OK, I have faith McKay and Farrell will bring the goods on their next project together. Hopefully that project is Step Brothers 2!

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" Review... It's Bad, Really Really Bad

So, it's a few weeks late, but I avoided the critics and went to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice (SA). Maybe I should have listened? No! That's why we see movies ourselves, to develop our own opinions. So, here was my thinking.

Nicolas Cage, I like him. Jay Baruchel, I like him. Alfred Molina, I like him too. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, I love his movies. So far so good. The story of a sorcerer having to teach a young man the tricks of his trade, pretty cool idea. Let's get into what really happened, not what I was hoping to happen.


What I liked about the movie:
The Special Effects

This is no longer a factor strong enough to hold a movie up on its own. I remember the mid-1990's, terrible movies were AWESOME because we'd never seen special effects before, more specifically computer generated effects. SA has some incredible stuff in it. Nothing new per say, but it was visually stunning to look at. I especially loved the broom scene that was talked about so much before the movie launched.

What I didn't like about the movie:
The Story
I think there was a lot of potential wasted on this film. I know Hollywood is all about time=money, but this is ridiculous. The story of SA was there, the script was not! If they took the story, spent another 6-12 months tweeking it, I don't think I'd be writing this section of my review right now. Centuries ago, this person betrayed this person, then that person got locked away in a contraption, only to accidentally be released years later, blah freakin' blah. It was so stupid. This amazing sorcerer (Cage), can't stop a 9 year old little runt from fumbling and bumbling his way into trouble? What the hell man? Give us, the audience, some credit will ya?

Then there's the GOD AWFUL love story, sub-plot garbage. This girl wanted that guy, not the other guy, so the other guy got jealous and joined the other girl in betraying the first guy. Did you get that? Yea I got it, but it's ludicrous. For God's sake, who cares?! Stupid. Monica Bellucci loves Cage's character, not Molina's character, blah blah, I don't care.

The Acting
Every actor/actress in this movie should be ashamed of themselves for the performances they phoned in. I want an apology from each and every one of the them, including the extras. OK, I'm being a bit dramatic, but literally every performance is forgettable. The one performance I was disappointed in most was that of Jay Baruchel's. I just gave him props when I reviewed She's Out of My League, and now I'm scratching my head. He plays the same, dorky, neurotic character in League that he does here in SA. I like Baruchel, but this movie will be the low-point of his acting career.

The Direction
It's not all the actors and writer's fault this movie was as bad as it was. Jon Turteltaub stunk up every scene in the movie. The pacing was off; within seconds we're running, then crawling, then running again. The editing was terrible, choppy and unorganized. The score SHOULD have been memorable and worthy of a summer blockbuster. It was forgettable at best. Shoot, even wardrobe sucked. Turteltaub is to blame for 80% of the movie's awfulness. Yes, movie making is a collaborative effort, but Turteltaub has the final say so.


I am not being "harsh" on this one, folks. Go see it and join my hatred for this film. I was so mad, so upset at the nonsense movie I saw, I literally text dozens of my friends my hatred for the film. It was a waste of time, money, and... time. I will never listen to the critics when it comes to my choice of films, but damn they were right. With a 42% on Rotten Tomatoes, you can see where my hatred is coming from. GOD I HATED THIS MOVIE!

"Due Date" Poster

Todd Phillips directed, Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis starring, Due Date. Just for kicks, here's the poster. Also, check out the trailer here.

New Finished Look at "Green Lantern's" Character: Kilowog

The movie doesn't come out until June 17th, 2011, but the photos are starting to surface every week. First was the Entertainment Weekly cover of Ryan Reynolds wearing the suit. Then more pictures from inside the magazine were released later the same day. Now comes the picture of Green Lantern's big buddy, Kilowog. He's by far the most visually different character in the Green Lantern universe and this picture will show you what we mean. Hit the jump for the photo.

Character of Kilowog from the Warner Bros. film, Green Lantern

Picture from Latinoreview via Comicbookmovies.

"What if Batman was the Joker?"; Tony Scott Directed "Nemesis" Coming?

The title of the blog post is from the actual publicity for the comic book. What comic book? Mark Millar's Nemesis. What if someone as smart and with as much wealth and power as Bruce Wayne didn't become Batman, but rather the Joker?! Scary thought. Well that's exactly the concept behind Nemesis, a revenge tale brought to life in a dark, mute tone.

Today /slashfilm, via Bleeding Cool and Deadline are reporting the movie will soon be directed by Tony Scott (Man on Fire, Taking of Pelham 1,2,3, Unstoppable). Fox has the rights to the movie and supposedly they're moving head quickly on the project. I love the comic book, I only have the first of four issues and I think it's brilliant. There's a lot of over-the-top action in the comic book, and it's a different kind of over-the-top than Kick-Ass, involving presidents, planes, explosions, etc. Plus, Mark Millar knows what he's doing.

Don't know who Mark Millar is? Don't read too many comics? He's the man responsible for awesome comic book-to-movie translations such as Wanted and Kick-Ass. The man can write a comic book, that's for sure! His style of writing is almost as if it's meant to be translated into feature films. I have no doubt Nemesis will be a good movie, especially if done correctly by someone of Tony Scott's expertise. I'll post if it becomes official. This is some pretty cool news.

"Resident Evil: Afterlife" Posters and Banners

Just for the love of Milla... enjoy. Click the jump for 5 more shots from Resident Evil: Afterlife. Brought to you by Joblo via Ultimate-re.

Tony Scott, Denzel Washington and a Runaway Train... "Unstoppable" Trailer Comin' Atcha

Tony Scott, check.

Denzel Washington, check.

Chris Pine, check.

Rosario Dawson, check.

Based on a true story, check.

A runaway train headed towards a small town at unbelievable speeds destroying everything in its site, check.

The movie is Unstoppable. And the trailer is unstoppable as well. Check it out and see what you think.

"Jackass 3D" Poster and Trailer

Haven't really covered Jackass 3D much on the blog, except for the announcement it was being made. So today it gets some attention. Check out the poster, and below, the new trailer for the film. I especially like the "high five" bit.

Ben Affleck's "The Town" Foreign Movie Poster

A few weeks ago, the trailer premiered for The Town, a new heist thriller starring and directed by Ben Affleck. Click the jump to see the foreign poster for the film. It's interesting, but has way too much going on. Click the jump.

"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" Review

In the post previous to this, I apologize to the film Salt for not covering it enough. Then I don't know what to say about Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and our zero coverage of the film. I guess I'm going to try to redeem myself with this review. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (SP) is based on the wildly popular comic book of the same name. Since it was announced, fanboys across the country have been geeking-out about it. I never read the comics, but was rewarded early premier tickets by my favorite comic book store of all time, Brave New World. Brave New World is owned and operated by Atom! and Portlyn in Santa Clarita, CA. Check out their Facebook page here. Thank you guys for the tickets. Let's begin.


What I liked about the movie:
The Story
This aspect of the movie could have fallen flat on its face, but it doesn't. A lovable loser meets the girl of his dreams, but to be with her, he has to fight off her 7 evil ex-boyfriends? Huh? See what I mean? It could have been a disaster, but it wasn't! Writers Michael Bacall and Edgar Wright (who also directed the film) found a way to keep in the realm of possibility (minus all the fighting and flashy special effects). Which leads into my next "like".

Originality/Effects

When I left the theater I text FattMatt that SP was one of the most original movies I've ever seen. FattMatt was surprised by such a bold statement, but I encourage everyone to see the movie and let me know what they think. Visually the film is unlike ANYTHING you've ever seen before. Director Edgar Wright found the perfect way to literally bring a comic book to life. We've seen other directors try to translate the feel of reading a comic book (i.e. Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk), but Edgar succeeds. There are moments in the movie that feel like they've popped right off the pages of a comic-book.

The same goes for the special effects in the movie. Visually stunning to look at, and make sense as a translation from a comic book. Fiery swords, exaggerated fights, bonus points reminiscent of a video game are all brought to life with beautiful sound and color. A few times in the movie I thought to myself, "I have literally never seen this style of film making in my entire life." Which, yes, is a bold statement. But it's true.

The Cast

I'm a fan of Michael Cera, who was perfectly cast in this film. If I were to only comment on one positive of Cera's performance, it would be his delivery. His delivery is very unique. He comes off awkward, but his timing is just right. He's a loser, but you love him. He's uncoordinated, but can fight like a pro. He was perfectly cast.

The supporting cast was great in the film. Chris Evans, Jason Schwartzman and Brandon Routh are hilarious as 3 of the 7 evil ex's. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is the love interest causing all this headache as "Ramona." She's great and the chemistry with Cera is believable. Oscar-nominated Anna Kendrick does well with what little material she has to work with as Scott Pilgrim's sister. Scene stealer award goes to... Kieran Culkin! That's the Home Alone star's little brother, if you were wondering. Culkin plays Scott Pilgrim's best friend and roommate and is hilarious in the film! His character is gay and the comedy that comes about from this is classic. Awesome to see him do so well.


What I didn't like about the movie:
Repetitiveness
This was bound to happen, considering our lead character has to fight 7 people. By the time SP reaches the 7th evil ex, (who he fights twice!), it becomes too redundant. Each of the 7 ex characters were funny and engaging, but when translating to film, it's just too much. Another dislike, which coincides with the repetitiveness, is the length of the film. At just under 2 hours, I'd say it was about 20 minutes too long for what it was.


This Summer started out with a lot of movies that were just bad, or disappointing at best. The second half is going a lot better... A LOT better. Inception, Salt and now Scott Pilgrim vs. The World are all skewing the results back towards the positive. I have to admit, if I wasn't given the tickets, I probably wouldn't have seen SP, and what a shame it would have been. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was a ton of fun and I would recommend it to anyone, young or old.

"Salt" Review

It's a movie we didn't really cover much on AtD, and what a shame it is. The movie is Salt, and stars the always lovely Angelina Jolie in a not-so-lovely role. A bit of history for you: the movie was not intended for Jolie. Fact is, it was never intended for a woman, period. The movie was written with a male lead, (rumor was Tom Cruise was set to star). Producers talked to Jolie, fell in love with the idea of converting the lead to a female and here we are today reviewing the movie. Let's go.


What I liked about the movie:
Angelina Jolie

This may come as an obvious positive in my review, but let me tell you why it's not so obvious. There aren't very many movies with female leads. There are even less action movies with female leads. So Jolie had to make it count, and boy does she make it count. Without giving anything way, we spend the entire movie trying to figure out, is Salt who she says she is? Or is she a spy, the way she's accused in the trailer?

Where does Jolie succeed the most? When she's acting alone. Anyone will tell you this is extremely difficult. To carry a scene without dialogue, alone, is a difficult feat. Similar to Tom Hanks in Cast Away, Jolie must command the audience's attention without much to work with. She pulls it off. Her expressions, her thought process, everything came through in the performance.

The Action

It's hard to fool fans these days. I've been watching movies on a daily basis for 25 years, I'm bound to see repeat stunts in action films. But Salt has stuff we've never seen before, at least not like this. The stunts are practical, which means they were actually performed, not added by a computer later. There is one particular scene where Salt has to jump from car to car on the freeway. The scenario itself may not be new to us, but the execution is. The cameraman actually takes the leap WITH Salt during one of the jumps. Awesome! The rest of the action is great hand-to-hand combat reminiscent of the Bourne trilogy. Good stuff.

The Story/Writing
This was a pleasant surprise. Usually this genre just pumps out the same ol' story lines time and time again. Salt does a good job of keeping the spy storyline fresh and different from movies in the past. The surprise twist at the end got me, and I've seen literally hundreds of action movies; I didn't see that one coming.


What I didn't like about the movie:
Sub-Plot
This is actually been a problem in several movies I've seen lately. Sub-plots are a tricky thing to deal with. They can't take over the entire movie, but have to be interesting enough to matter. I don't feel as though the sub-plot worked in the movie. It deals with the Salt character and her husband; how they met, how they fell in love, etc. This is all done through flashbacks. Once we reach the end of the film, we quickly learn none of the sub-plot matter. Don't worry, no spoiler was just given to you.

Overacting

I hate to put this in the review, but I had to. I know it's an action movie and "tough" cops are important and all, but damn you, Chiwetel Ejiofor, if you weren't trying too hard. He should have taken note from his co-star, the AWESOME Liev Schreiber. Schreiber had plenty of opportunities to over-act as Salt's best friend in the movie, but he doesn't! Sorry, I had to say something because I like Ejiofor in his other work.


Believe me, there wasn't much else I didn't like about the film. It was a solid summer action flick that satisfied the senses. My wife isn't much of an action buff, or a Jolie fan, and left smiling from ear to ear after the movie. This WILL be a franchise and I love where it's headed. The story is set up for a nice arc and I can't wait to see it play out. Salt was a great surprise and we here at AtD owe it an apology for not covering it more closely.