THRILLER; 1hr 40min
STARRING: Angelina Jolie, Liev Shreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Fired up: Jolie
Whether or not CIA agent Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is who or what she claims to be, she’s a damn fine-looking lady and a sly and feisty fox in a tight place. Accused of being a Russian sleeper spy, Salt bolts while keeping her arsenal of wits about her, which you’d need with your erstwhile workmates (Shreiber and Ejiofor) nipping at your tail feather.
Salt’s prime objective is to find her German husband (August Diehl) who studies spiders and has mysteriously vanished. So off she goes — and does she ever: Jolie does nothing by halves, and the slamming action scenes are something to see. Both she and director Phillip Noyce, who last linked up with his leading lady in 1999 for The Bone Collector, have no problems with the big, tensile, surprising picture. There’s not a misused minute in Kurt Wimmer’s volatile screenplay as Salt makes her hell-raising way from Washington, DC, to New York City. If keeping up with her is a blast — and it absolutely is— then figuring her out is even more fun.
