it would have been a lot easier for her to kill the russian president if her plan wasn't announced to the cia? like if orlov contacted her at home instead of at work. why does orlov want the cia to know about their plan?
shareI did not undestand that either.
shareShe was "asleep". He woke her. Also it was a test to see if she was still loyal to Russia.
shareNo, it's because if he didn't make the insanely stupid and nonsensical decision to tell her at work, there would not be a movie.
Unless you want to believe that the Russians spent all this time developing a mole program, but never bothered to come up with an idea of how to wake an agent. Other than "I guess someday I'll just swing by the CIA and blow your cover while being recorded by the top brass!"
Christ on stilts, this movie sucked.
Killing the Russian President was only part of the plan - the Big Plan was to start a nuclear war.
To start a nuclear war, you have to get access to the "Football" and Presidential launch codes.
To get access to the Presidential launch codes, you need unrestricted access to the President.
To get unrestricted access to the President, you need a mole and the President inside the bunker.
To get the President into the bunker, you need to threaten his life (the suicide bomber).
To get the mole into the bunker, you need to get your mole near the President when his life is threatened.
To get your mole near the President, you need to shake up national security.
To shake up national security, you need proof of a highly-placed mole inside the US government, *and* you need a high-risk, high-pressure situation.
For a high-risk, high-pressure situation, you reveal an existing mole *and* suggest a threat to a visiting dignitary. You can't threaten the US President, because if he's threatened before you get your mole next to him, he'll be moved to an inaccessible location.
So - to get Liev Schrieber next to the President, you reveal another mole in his agency so he's there to cover security.
[not in the movie, but fits with the theme]
Incidentally, to get a visiting dignitary on your schedule, you need a high-profile political event. The easiest way to "arrange" a high-profile political event is to make a funeral happen. I suspect Orlov also orchestrated the Vice President's death.
Besides, Winter told Salt that Orlov did not want to 'out' Salt and had to be persuaded to do it.
shareI suspect Orlov also orchestrated the Vice President's death.
No need. They reveal at the end (of the director's cut) that the vice president is yet another sleeper.
That was my big question too--and I didn't see that Winter needed to be "woken up". Maybe I missed something but I felt she knew all along what she was--just like Winter did. Makes no sense for the Russian agent to blow her cover at work and it wasn't needed when they could have revealed it from her "killing" the Russian at the funeral. Man those Russians were sure tough--she easily beat the stuffin out of all the American agents but couldn't take Winter!
share