Salt

Who is Salt?
A hero or a villain?
Russian or American?
All these questions are raised from the early catalyst in Australian director, Phillip Noyce's new action film Salt. Angelina Jolie plays CIA agent Evelyn Salt, who is accused by a ‘walk in’ Russian renegade, Orlov, of being one among many sleeper Russian agents within the USA. And so the chase begins, as Agent Salt escapes being taken into custody by the CIA, on a mission to prove her innocence or perhaps to complete her Russian mission? She is chased by CIA partner Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) and ONCIX agent Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and escapes under extreme, inventive action scenes.
The plot is fast paced, they don’t waste a second on unnecessary bullshit, and it builds to an exciting climax. The twists are fulfilling as everything slowly falls into place by the climax of the film. Thankfully it has been written in a way where the audience does not get annoyed about not knowing for practically the whole film, whose side Salt is really fighting for, but whether this is the direction or purely because no one will fault watching Angelina Jolie trail buildings, jump onto moving trucks and even dress as a man, who knows? The film ends appropriately, without having a terribly contrived happy ‘fairy tale’ ending, leaving enough room for a possible sequel...
The action scenes are handled with care and precision, it is easy to see exactly what is happening, and the audience is not lost compared to the modern action technique of shaky handheld camera work.
It’s definitely not the greatest action film, but it might possibly be Angelina Jolie’s best. So if you want to sit down and be entrained on a heart pounding adventure ride, which contains the right level of intelligence; then go see Salt.