Jolie action flick the best one of the summer so far

The interesting (and telling) bit of trivia about Salt is that it was originally written for a male star and Tom Cruise was signed for the lead.

He backed out eventually in order to be in Knight and Day>. Where that movie stunk like a fetid pile of week-old cabbage sitting in the sun, this one emanates like roses. It succeeds so greatly and on so many levels that Cruise should seriously consider dropping out of Mission: Impossible 4 and just fading into the sunset.

Salt is a classic espionage thriller with a heavy, creamy dollop of great action. Angelina Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent who quickly becomes embroiled in a plot to assassinate the Russian president. More specifically, she is accused of being of a plant, a Russian sleeper agent who has waited for years for a perfect moment to strike. As she escapes from her American counterparts and interrogators, we immediately start to wonder what is the truth — is she really a patriot or the ultimate double agent? One of the best things about this movie is that this ambiguity holds like super glue through the entire 100 minutes. It all played out perfectly. For that I give full credit to the triumvirate of star Jolie, writer Kurt Wimmer and director Phillip Noyce. Noyce certainly knows what he's doing after having helmed some great and tense modern masterpieces like Dead Calm and Patriot Games. Wimmer has had a string of near-hits but was co-scribe on the Pierce Brosnan remake of The Thomas Crown Affair so he certainly knows a thing or two about what makes a good movie hum along.

One of the main reasons why this feels like a classic of the genre (much like John le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold) is that it has a heaping spoonful of Cold War angst playing throughout. When was the last film that had Russian antagonists? What makes this better than just the intellectual cat and mouse game is the oodles of action that all starts once Jolie's feet hit the floor. There is more fighting and chasing, shooting and evading, jumping and running in this one movie than in any other movie this year. You had better sit tight in your seat, my friend, because your adrenal glands are about to get a workout. Salt is chock-a-block full of excitement and it still maintains its integrity as a thoughtful and intelligent picture. That is a tall order to fill, but it does exactly that. What's more is that Jolie did most of her own numerous stunts and none of them looked at all easy.

In fact, my complaints against Salt almost seem strained. The eponymous title from the main character's last name is completely uninspired. The tagline is almost as bad although it fits the storyline well — “Who is Salt?” Honestly. Did that entice anyone to buy a ticket? Otherwise Salt is well worth its salt and the price of admission. I'd rather watch this a hundred times before I'd want to sit down for Knight and Day again.