“Salt” (2010)
Rating: 
It’s been a while since there’s been a good Cold-War spy thriller. Probably because the Cold War ended over twenty years ago. But Angelina Jolie’s latest film, “Salt”, is a solid addition to the genre.
The basic premise is that Salt (Jolie) is a CIA agent who was recently returned from being captured by North Korea. One day a former KGB agent walks into the CIA building and announces that Salt is, in fact, a KGB “sleeper” – an agent planted decades ago by the Russians to one day perform some major act of sabotage against the US. And from there Jolie is doing her best James Bond impression as we try to figure out who’s on what side.
As spy stories go, this one is pretty good. There aren’t a lot of Bond-esque gadgets, yet the story moves along and overall is plausible. The traitors aren’t obvious until the very end and they don’t telegraph the end-game of the movie until the last moments. The acting and directing are both good – though probably not Oscar good.
As Evelyn Salt, Jolie does truly kick ass. From building a bazooka from a fire extinguisher and cleaning supplies, to taking out cops with “Emma Peel” panache, she is believable in the role. They toned down her obvious great looks to make this work. It would have been so easy to sell out and dress her up like Tomb Raider, going for the sex-appeal – but that would have ruined the movie.
As with any “4-star” movie, there are problems. Why Salt chooses the side she chooses is never really made clear – we’re kind of left to guess – but it should have been more prominent as it’d have given the movie more weight. Having her easily defeat police officers is one thing, but the way Salt is able to defeat and evade trained operatives – many with the same training she had – is a little hard to buy at times. It’s just too easy for her. OK, she’s supposed to be the “best of the best” – genetically engineered almost – but come on. The final scenes in the White House are a bit hard to swallow – if there was an assassination attempt on the President right there in the Oval Office there’d be Marines swarming the place in no time. Instead, there’s a small handful of a security detail around the President and tons of empty corridors for bad things to happen in. Oh, and no security – no camera even – in the elevator shaft to the President’s secure bunker either – come on.
But these are minor problems in an otherwise good movie. This isn’t the best movie I’ve seen this year, or even this summer, but it’s worth seeing.
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