6/10
When Tom Cruise decided not to appear in this film, so as to make Knight And Day, Angelina Jolie stepped in to the vacant position. She got the better end of that particular deal.
Whereas K & D is an annoyingly smug and shallow comedy/thriller (without laughs or thrills), Salt is like a female version of The Fugitive, with Evelyn Salt (Jolie) on the run from her own people (she works for the CIA), after being accused of being a double agent by a Russian defector. The plot doesn't bear very close scrutiny, being frankly absurd, but the only purpose of the plot in a film like this is to sweep you along in a frenzy of momentum and excitement, so that you don't have time to think coherently.
The great advantage of having a woman in the leading role of a thriller like this, lies in the fact that her vulnerability makes her a more appealing protagonist. Rather than having to endure the Cruise smirk, we can (almost) believe in a character who feels unjustly accused, but is resourceful enough to deal with it singlehanded. Jolie is not your typical action actress. She is certainly beautiful in a manner which is something more than human, but she also has a mobile and expressive face once you stop looking at the lips, and can just about make you believe that she can leap onto the top of speeding lorries (and then off again onto another truck).
The film also benefits from the supporting cast of Liev Schreiber as her boss/buddy and Chiwetel Ejiofor as the Tommy Lee Jones-like pursuer, determined to get his woman, and uninterested in her innocence or otherwise. The film was directed by Phillip Noyce, a veteran of films like Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games, as well as the more thoughtful Rabbit-Proof Fence, and he manages to steer us through the narrative nonsense of assassinations, double crosses and breathless chases across the city, just about maintaining our credibility, at least for the running time of the film. It's not as good as The Fugitive, but it's still a lot better than much of what else is around.
