One damn good action hero Jolie is, and in SALT, it felt like a female "Jack Bauer 24" type non-stop for the whole 100 minutes complete

Rating: 7/10 (5 August 2010)

Yes, Angelina Jolie can very well be our lady James Bond, anytime. She has integrally proved in the superb Simon West directed "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" 2001, and opposite Brad Pitt as the dynamic duo in "Bourne Identity" director Doug Liman's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" 2005. From the Special Collector's Edition DVD behind the scenes, we learned that Jolie did her own stunts after rigorous physical training, that her agile moves were more convincing than stunt doubles. Impressively credulous - she embodies the character of Lara Croft and she is Lara Croft, The Tomb Raider, 100 percent (and beyond). And when she is Jane Smith, she is the unmistakable fearless lethal assassin just as her husband John Smith is. Jolie's star power, acting energy, physical and inner strength always intensely come through and through. As agent Evelyn Salt, she's no match for anyone - except Jack Bauer of '24'. I totally see her as the female equivalent to Jack, from the very first moment as SALT, the movie, opens.
As one famous film critic pointed out that SALT made RUN LOLA RUN (1998 w-d Tom Tykwer with Franka Potente of "Bourne Identity" being Lola) seem like mere walking for its 80 minutes. Jolie in SALT is constantly on the run (sprinting, leaping, jumping, running down, running up, running across), and her brain never stops as unbroken string of hindrances every which way are coming at her, trying to stop her dead, literally. Fear not, and it's no spoiler, Evelyn Salt is one determined agent, Russian or otherwise, out to defend the US of A (just as '24' Jack Bauer does at all costs, risking loved ones and sacrificing oneself consciously to get to the next step and to achieve the unswerving goal - save the world, too, while s/he's at it). There's many twists and turns. Convoluted? 'Nah'. It's standard espionage fare, cold war related, action-filled screenplay by competent "Equilibrium" (2002) w-d Kurt Wimmer. Director Phillip Noyce is no stranger to this genre, he had given us Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan in "Clear and Present Danger" (1994). It is Jolie whom you want to follow from beginning to end, and you badly wanted her to succeed, just as agent Salt does.
Accompany her, worry for her, cheer for her. Is she or is she not a Russian spy product - you would at times waver but no time to ponder. Her next move may reveal yet another level in the game plan, and you'd think how clever she is, or empathize with her for why she did what she did - she's already moved on. The story pacing is non-stop and there's no time for second-guessing who's the real bad guy and who can really help Salt. Is she truly on her own? If you want a good thriller and your money's worth for 100 minutes, Jolie's SALT is the best bet.
Music by James Newton Howard, along with director of photography Robert Elswit, editing team of Stuart Baird, John Gilroy and Steven Kemper, tightly delivered the scenes with earnest proficiency. Key supporting roles by Liev Schreiber as Ted, Salt's mentor (he's in "A Walk on the Moon" 1999 with Diane 'Unfaithful' Lane, "Hamlet" 2000, "Defiance" 2008 opposite James Bond Daniel Craig, among many others) and Chiwetel Ejiofor as agent Peabody (he's memorable in d- Stephen Frears' 2002 "Dirty Pretty Things" with Audrey 'Amelie' Tautou, and in last year's disaster-blockbuster of "2012").
By the way, w-d Christopher Nolan's "Inception" with stellar cast of DiCaprio, Cotillard, Page, Watanabe, Caine, Gordon-Levitt, including Cillian Murphy - is very much a mind-bending spiral tale of intrigue, psychological sci-fi if you will, while SALT is one continuous straight action-packed thriller helmed by Angelina Jolie from start to finish. Apples and oranges, not to be compared.
For a down to earth, cold war period Russian (and French) spy suspense and human drama, based on true events in the annals of US-French-Russian spy history, see "Farewell" aka "L'affaire Farewell" (2009), a worthy French film by director Christian Carion (of "Joyeux Noel" 2005), along the vein of "The Lives of Others" (aka "Das Leben der Anderen" 2006, German Oscar winner by w-d Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck) - a little known string of events yet critical to the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.