An exciting movie you can watch again...

Rating: 10/10 (2 September 2010)

This is a superior Hollywood blockbuster, engagingly told. Some movies out of America seem to court repeat business by telling the story in an incoherent way (e.g. "Inception") or by adding a twist that demands you see the movie again to see if it is consistent (e.g. "The sixth sense"). Well, how about this...here's a movie you can watch again because it's a good story. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Angelina Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a C.I.A spy. Her life is turned upside down when a former Cold War warrior, Vassily Orlov (played by Daniel Olbrychski) comes into her workplace seeking to defect in return for passing on information useful to the C.I.A. Orlov asserts that Salt is a 'sleeper agent'...someone working for the Russians and who will do their bidding...which will involve dire consequences for America.
Salt does her cause great harm by running away, but not before letting her C.I.A. peers know that she is being set up. Orlov had asserted that their sleeper agent - Salt - was to assassinate the Russian President when he attended the funeral of the American Vice-President in America. The question becomes "Is Salt going to try and prevent the assassination of the Russian president or carry it out like Orlov says she will?".
Almost an hour into the movie I was onto what the real state of affairs was and had formed some hypotheses about the characters and their motives. Which is to say that it was good that the movie kept me guessing for so long about what was going on.
The action sequences in this movie are well handled. Cf the incoherent method used in the last James Bond movie "Quantum of solace". In fact, this movie comes across as being to Jolie what "Casino Royale" was to Daniel Craig...an entertaining spy movie. This movie shades the best Bond movies, I think and it also has the advantage of not relying on unbelievable technology like the Bond franchise does. Sure, it has some extraordinary stunt work, but nothing which makes you think you are watching superhero movie.