Like a lot of action films it's filled with a lot of ridiculous set-pieces but to its credit it is fast-paced and entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (31 March 2018)

A Russian defector enters the CIA Headquarters and proceeds to tell CIA agent Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) that he has intelligence suggesting that the Russian president is going to be assassinated on US soil. Curious to know more she interrogates the man, but when he divulges that the person who will carry out the assassination is none other than Evelyn Salt herself Evelyn panics and insists that the man is lying. However, the defector passes the CIA's lie detector test and the CIA become suspicious of Evelyn. Realising that her colleagues don't believe her she goes on the run whilst at the same time trying to track her husband down whom she also believes may be in danger...
Working from a script by Kurt Wimmer director Phillip Noyce clearly knew that he was forced to work around a fairly generic narrative with Salt; yes you could argue that there are red herrings in the story and the odd twist and turn here and there but the main components of the story aren't terribly original.
Perhaps that's why Noyce chose to not get too bogged down with unnecessary exposition and needless sub-plots and focused on injecting the film with a fast-pace and plenty of action sequences (which is what I suspect that most audiences look for in an action film). Salt is a chase picture of sorts and thankfully that's exactly what it feels like and this is the main component that drives the film forward at a lightning pace. It's fair to say that Noyce gets a bit carried away with the action and seems to throw realism out of the door a lot of the time - Angie's antics (particularly on the freeway with the trucks are so far removed from reality that it almost makes her seem superhuman). The action clichÃ©s extend further in that the bad guys always miss and Angie always hits which would normally be a problem for me, but the film moves along so quickly that I was never really given the opportunity to allow for this to become a problem (I only thought about it afterwards tbh).
As well as being fast-paced, slick and entertaining the film also benefits from a very good turn from Angelina Joile - she's a diverse actress whom I feel doesn't always get the recognition that she deserves - I've always felt that she's more than just a pretty face.
For action-junkies this is a must see (despite Noyce over-staging the action sequences on numerous occasions). The story is reasonably good, it moves at a lightning pace and you get to see Angelina Jolie kick a load of butt and show off her lovely pins now and again. What more could you ask for?