Keeps you excited the entire time and leaves you begging for a sequel when it's over

Rating: 8/10 (7 August 2010)

In a summer where many movies have more or less been considered disappointments, it's nice to see a film that delivers the goods as much as "Salt" does.
As an action thriller that's almost as quick with its pacing as its heroine is on her feet, more probably happens in "Salt's" 90 minutes than in "Robin Hood's" nearly two and a half hour running time. Not that I am trying to argue that all summer blockbusters should have reasonably short running times, but sometimes, you just want to have action and thrills, not extended scenes of dialogue. "Salt" definitely gives you just that, but it also manages to fit a brain into its script, too.
The plot can be explained quickly: Salt (Angelina Jolie, on yummy mode) is a CIA agent who's considered one of the best in the field. Then one day--on her wedding anniversary of all days--a Russian comes in to spill one heck of a story: His native country has been taking Americans and replacing them with Russian spies. These spies have been trained since childhood to prepare for a day called "Day X," in which all of them will be "activated" to bring down America, starting by killing Russia's president (it's a very complicated plan). As anyone who has seen the trailer already knows, he claims that Salt is one of these agents.
Rather than wait for interrogation, Salt chooses to run. And on that note, I will not say anything more about the film's plot, because much of the fun here comes from trying to figure out whether or not Salt's a good spy or a bad spy. Has she been framed? Is she actually a double agent? These questions aren't answered right away in the story, and while I was proud of myself for being able to guess the ending before I got there, everything about Salt as a character isn't completely clear until the final scenes of the film.
While we question Salt's loyalty, we are treated to some really effective action sequences. While I appreciated "Knight and Day" for its tongue-in-cheek tone, it's been quite some time since we've had a "serious" action movie in theaters. Seeing Angelina as Salt run, shoot and fight her way through the film's plot is nothing short of exciting. It's also all kinda, well, sexy. Indeed, for better or for worse, "Salt" has clearly been made with Jolie's male viewers in mind. There's a reason other than just the story that she spends an entire chase sequence barefoot, with the same reason being behind her being handcuffed for a hair-raising car chase that takes place later in the film.
Jolie is obviously aware of her sexual appeal, and she uses it well without ever making it exploitive. She makes Salt seem sympathetic one moment and incredibly deadly the next, allowing for some of her acting skills to come into play in-between the various set pieces. Regardless of whether we trust her or not, we root for Salt as she goes on her adventures largely because Angelina is so compelling...even at points where she really does appear to be a traitor.
"Salt" is brisk, fun, smart and action-packed, but it can also be described with another word, a word that I've been able to use on way too few movies this year. It's refreshingly, gloriously badass.