A top notch spy thriller

Rating: 8/10 (24 June 2011)

Look for them and you'll find the flaws but this spy thriller has Angeline Jolie showing how good an actress she is in keeping us guessing which side she is on. The acting is excellent throughout.
The opening scenes sets out the story the clearly for us with Evelyn Salt (Jolie) being tortured and then released in an exchange between the US and North Korea set up by her husband Mike. Pan forward two years and we find Ev and Mike in marital bliss when a Russian defector walks into Ev's CIA office out of the blue. Ev interviews him and within a few minutes everyone is asking who she is. A plot has been uncovered which suggests Ev is about to assassinate the Russian president. Whose side is she on? As in the "Changeling" Jolie plays a doubted woman exceedingly well, and there is some well crafted subtlety in this performance too, as Ev tries very hard to contact her husband whilst the plot unfolds.
The set pieces are well executed, the plot twists cleverly worked, and even the predictable sometimes working as quite unpredictable. This isn't another "Bourne" movie but at times it does show similarities with the genre.
If you enjoy spy movies see this film. Eight out of ten.