> Salt
3 stars (out of 5)
Director: Phillip Noyce
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Live Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, August Diehl, Daniel Olbrychski, Andre Braugher
Rating: (M)
When the script for Salt (Rialto and Hoyts) was first written the title role was Edwin A. Salt. Tom Cruise turned it down and then Angelina Jolie expressed interest and the character became Evelyn Salt, but no other aspects were changed.
All this is canny marketing. As just another Tom Cruise action flick, Salt would have had difficultly standing out, but with human headline Jolie it has visibility.
Salt's sex-change has not slowed her down and with Jolie's Tomb Raider credentials we sort of believe as she hand-fights her way in and out of danger.
The movie is fast-paced, with escape, chase, escape sequences aplenty while we try and grasp just who Salt is. It seems the Soviets carefully raised a clutch of babies to pass as Americans and sent them out as sleeper agents waiting to strike at their foster country.
Salt works for the CIA and one day a defector stumbles into her interrogation room recounting the scheme and naming her as a mole.
Salt immediately flees, leaving the audience in no doubt about her allegiance but her colleagues have to consider that she is who the defector says she is. While little of the plot makes much sense, Salt is better than most recent action flicks by virtue of starting fast and keeping the momentum up.
Best thing: The taser-gun driving sequence will be talked about for years.
Worst thing: For a super-spy, Jolie sure runs like a girl.
See it with: Your team Aniston T-shirt on as Jolie takes a beating in this one.
- Christine Powley
