Messy plot but moves slickly enough to stop you worrying too much till after you have watched it

Rating: Null/10 (7 September 2010)

Evelyn Salt is an agent for the US government – highly trained and highly effective. However, when a Russian defector brings news of children raised in Russia as Americans and placed into the US as sleeper agents in all manner of powerful positions, Salt is one of those named. Knowing she is innocent, Salt's first thought is to ensure her husband is safe and, unable to do so from the custody of her employers, flees – essentially admitting her guilt in the eyes of Agent Peabody, even if her boss Ted Winter is adamant of her innocence.
The plot of Salt appears to be the standard stuff of a highly trained special agent out on their own trying to clear their name while being hunted by their own people. To its credit it is a bit more twisty and turny than that and it does make it more engaging that if it had just been played straight out. This is not the same as me saying it all works though, because to be honest if you sit down and look at it in the cold light of day there is a lot in the plot that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. In particular there are narrative-conveniences that are done for the sake of it even if they are incredibly unlikely. The thing is though, the film carries them and, while you may easily pick holes in it, the chances are that the majority of viewers will be doing this after the film rather than during it.
It is not just the specific action sequences that do it but rather the overall tone and pace of the film. It is slickly made and delivered over 90 minutes so that there is no time for the viewer to ruminate on specifics – instead we are whisked to the next twist or next moment. Living in the moment is the action/thriller film's friend and it works well in Salt, making it fun and quite urgent while you are watching it. Of course a lot of it doesn't make sense and normally I would be the first to call nonsense on such a film, but somehow Salt makes it work.
Having a banner star is essential and, although I'm not a fan of Jolie, she does have a screen presence (quite how considering how stick thin she is, but she does it). She doesn't quite deliver on the potential of her character here as she only lets a humanity come through now and again, opting instead to mostly go with "sexy indestructible spy", which is less effective and has been done to death for all but the most libido-led teenage boys. Schreiber and Ejiofor are both strong in support and add a weight to the film that it definitely benefits from. The rest of the cast are solid enough but the presence of Andre Braugher is a mystery to me – such a good actor and well-known face but yet here he is on screen for a few seconds and barely two sentences to say.
Salt is not a brilliant film by any means and the sequel-friendly ending didn't have me excited to see the character more, but yet I enjoyed the film while I watched it. The slick delivery and strong pace help cover up the plot holes and convenient narrative devices and generally it is fun. Best enjoyed in a genre friendly setting such as the summer blockbuster season or as a Friday night DVD though as it is probably not strong enough to play well away from home turf.