My Re-Analyzing of Salt (2010)/Analysis of the Extended Version · 6:03pm Jul 19th, 2023
Greetings and salutations, my friends.
This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, I'm gonna give you guys a reexamination on another movie I reviewed years ago:
A re-analyzing/review on the extended version of Angelina Jolie's "Salt".
As with my re-analyzing/review on the extended version of "The Patriot", I'm gonna skip giving a summary of this movie's story since since that was already explained in my review of the theatrical version.
If anyone would like to see what this movie's about, though, and check out my review of the theatrical version, click on the link below:
In all honesty, I'm not sure if I ever intended on reviewing the extended version of "Salt" to begin with. In fact, I felt pretty content with the theatrical cut because I enjoyed all it offered. After I acquired the deluxe-unrated DVD edition, though, I did some research and found out each of the film's three versions were significantly different from each other. The extended version in particular was apparently the most unique of the three, which is why I chose to analyze it next.
I did see the E.V. once before, most likely a few months ago. But, in order to review it, I decided to see it a 2nd time recently.
Coming from a guy who saw the E.V. twice this year, I will say this:
My opinion on the movie as a whole pretty much remains the same as the last, in that I found "Salt" to be an excellent thriller with top-notch performances and directing. The only thing about it that I disliked was the cussing it contained, particularly its usage of the Lord's name in vain.
However, I also found the extended version of "Salt" to be significantly better than the theatrical version. Most of the scenes that were added in were flashback sequences that further delve into Evelyn Salt's origins, as well as her history and romance with Mike. These additions gave Evelyn a greater amount of depth, of course.
Outside of this, the significant thing about the E.V. is that some scenes from the T.C. were switched out in exchange for others. The switches in question actually further improved the overall narrative, helping things to seem less convoluted and nonsensical, and giving a sense of something fulfilling.
Among the examples is this:
- In the T.C., Mike is killed by a quick gunshot right when Evelyn sees him.
In the E.V., though, Mike slowly dies by being drowned, with Salt unable to help him and slowly looking on with heartbreaking sadness.
To me, this alternate death scene adds a greater sense of drama, emotion, and impact on the matter. Along with the added flashback scenes between him and Evelyn, it also helped Mike not come across as an afterthought of sorts in the long run.
But, the biggest difference is the following:
- In the T.C., Evelyn kills Orlov while she's with him on the barge, before killing every other agent there. The story itself would later end with her escaping custody in order to find and destroy the remnants of Orlov's assassin division.
In contrast, the E.V. doesn't feature Evelyn killing Orlov and the other agents on the barge. It is removed in exchange for a different ending where Evelyn is in custody at a hospital, and while there, she's told by Darryl Peabody that the U.S. president explained what really happened in the bunker and that Evelyn has been cleared of her charges. Afterwards, Evelyn escapes to Russia, where she locates and kills Orlov by drowning him. All before she destroys his entire division.
In my opinion, the removal of the barge massacre helped the narrative be much more smooth-flowing, and the E.V.'s ending provided a greater sense of closure for Evelyn's character arc compared to the T.C.'s ending.
With all this being said, I found the extended version of "Salt" to be far better than the theatrical cut.
Not only will it also share the T.C.'s 4½ out of 5 star rating, but...
I'm pretty much gonna go ahead and classify the E.V. as the officially canon version of the film. Considering how unlikely a sequel to this movie is by this point, I feel that the E.V. will provide ample compensation on the matter. If Columbia does decide to follow-up with a sequel, though, I think it should follow the E.V.'s continuity.
As for whether I'll review the "Director's Cut" of "Salt", that'd be a 'no'. I took a sneak peek at it using the DVD and fast forwarded throughout to see whether there was anything significantly different about it. When I did, I found that it's basically the theatrical cut and extended version of the movie combined together with little difference.
