“Salt” Review

Angelina Jolie stars as the title character in Salt, which could also be called Jason Bourne with lady parts, a CIA operative that finds herself on the run after being accused of being a Russian spy.

Director Phillip Noyce comes back to the action genre, which he hasn’t dabbled in since 1997′s The Saint, working from a script by The Thomas Crown Affair remake screenwriter Kurt Wimmer. These two don’t hesitate in getting right into the action as at about the 25-minute mark we are thrust into an epic 30-minute chase sequence that begins with Angelina Jolie’s character trying to escape from CIA headquarters. (Note to the men out there: there’s a scene at the beginning of the chase where Angelina takes off her underwear to cover a security camera that’s following her, which means that the next 15 – 20 minutes of her running around, dodging bullets, and scaling buildings is being done sans-underwear. Not that you can see anything, but it’s the thought that counts. Moving on…)

For a movie like this, the plot is pretty much secondary, but it stays interesting enough to make the very few plot-related scenes important pieces of the “Who is Salt?” puzzle. What is important in a movie like this is the action, obviously, and there is A LOT of it. I would say two-thirds of this 1 hour 40 minute long movie is made up of unstoppable Jolie ass-kicking bad-assery.

The action sequences are a nice mix of form and scale, there’s huge stunt sequences, to big explosive moments, to smaller hand-to-hand combat moments. All of it directed in a crisp, sharp way that keeps the action terse and violent. The end is perfect and manages to keep the feeling of momentum going even after the credits begin to roll.

It’s a fun summer action film with a script that stays agile by not being weighted down by exposition. Looking forward to Salt 2: Even Saltier.

See and hear my full review of Salt on Episode 5 of This Week in Movies by subscribing to it on iTunes.

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