The best thing about last year’s underwhelming Angelina Jolie actioner Salt is everything that didn’t happen in the film and the prospect of what might actually come rather than everything we actually saw. So, with that in mind I’m not necessarily scoffing at the idea of Salt 2 as Deadline’s Mike Fleming reports Kurt Wimmer is returning to script the sequel after penning the 2010 original.
The first film centered on Jolie’s character, Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent accused of being a sleeper spy with an agenda to kill the Russian president. It then devolved into a story of double-crosses, faked deaths and an attempt to start a nuclear war. In the end — SPOILER — Salt was determined to be a good “guy” and was set free to go clean up the baddies. Essentially, while Salt was a mildly decent movie, the whole character mindset moving into a sequel was intriguing. Here’s how I ended my original theatrical review:
However, should this film become a success, the sequels could be amazing as I really like where they wanted to take the character. This is a film obviously interested in setting up a Jason Bourne-like franchise as the two stories are very easily comparable, but whether audiences will support this film for the long haul is the biggest roadblock to seeing more of what Salt has to offer.
So it looks like I may get my wish though I’m not sure Wimmer is the one I want writing it, the same can be said for the upcoming Total Recall remake, the fact Wimmer wrote it is a red flag.
Along with Salt, Wimmer’s recent solo screenwriting credits include Law Abiding Citizen and Ultraviolet, the former I actually didn’t mind that much, but the latter he also directed and was incredibly awful. So what’s the expectation that he can actually deliver on a character that he pretty much screwed up the first time around? Eh, I’m not entirely confident he can.
One thing’s for certain, original director Phillip Noyce is unlikely to return as he told Moviehole back in December 2010, “Those three [alternate] Blu-ray cuts [of the film] represent just about everything I have to offer on Everlyn Salt. If there ever is a sequel, better its directed by someone with a completely fresh take on what I believe could be a totally entertaining and complex series of stories.”
So that leaves us with a director’s chair open as well as a search for a title, which was pretty much a running joke when the film first released. Simply adding numbers to movies doesn’t seem to work for studios any longer, so Salt 2 is probably out of the running. Saltier, Pepper and Rock Salt are also unlikely candidates. I expect we’ll get some sort of Salt: Redemption kind of a title… or perhaps Evelyn, because lord knows you take Jolie, combine her with an action flick and give her a big billboard and you have most likely got yourself a hit. Salt went on to make $118 million domestically and a total of $293 million globally on a $110 million budget.
