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I recently rewatched the Angelina Jolie thriller Salt on iTunes. The version I watched was the "Extended Edition". It seems to have a different, and somewhat less plausible or satisfying, ending than the version that was released to theatres:

Instead of ending with an escape from a helicopter partially aided by the counterespionage officer Peabody, Salt escapes from a hospital, unaided. There are also some differences earlier in how she deals with the nest of Russian agents in their boat base.

So why the two different endings? And what are the other differences between the versions?

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Salt has two different endings because of Noyce's different opinion from the producers' and studio's. From Wikipedia:

Director Phillip Noyce has said that due to the extensive usage of flashbacks, "there was always going to be a mountain of alternative material that would not fit into the theatrical version." The film ended up having two extra versions, the Director's Cut and the Extended Cut – which Noyce refers to in his audio commentary as the film's original cut – both included on the DVD and Blu-ray Disc deluxe editions.

The Director's Cut was described by Noyce as "my own personal take on the material, free from the politics and restrictions of producers, studio or censorship ratings." Four minutes of film are added, leading to a running time of 104 minutes. More flashbacks are added, and the violence is amped up – for example Mike being drowned rather than shot to death. The ending is also different: in the bunker scene, Winter shoots the President instead of only knocking him unconscious, and a media report during the final scene reports that the new US President had been orphaned on a family visit to Russia, implying he is also a sleeper agent. Noyce has described this ending as "an ending yet just a beginning – and it's an ending that turns the whole story on its head".

On the side note this film has three versions:

  • the Theatrical version (100 minutes),
  • the Director's Cut (104 minutes, plus changes to existing scenes), and
  • an Extended Cut (101 minutes, including the removal of some scenes and a different ending). - (Source:IMDb)
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