LAKE OCONEE — Salt

Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action).



It was horrible. It was terrible. Not the movie, “Salt,” but Angelina Jolie as a blonde. Talk about a crime against nature.

The movie, “Salt,” was fantastic. Really!

As a plot, everything is formulaic. Standard, like corn flakes, but director Phillip Noyce has a heck of a recipe for corn flakes.

Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is a CIA agent. She is a prisoner of the North Koreans. They torture her. They pour gasoline down her throat. They beat her while she is chained to a concrete floor. But she survives. And is eventually rescued, no thanks to her bosses at the CIA (it is against policy), but by her persistent, goofy-looking German husband (August Diehl) who is an expert on spiders.

One day, at the CIA office, Salt and her colleague Ted Winder (Liev Schreiber) are told that a Russian defector walked in their “secret” front (a corporate office). The Russian tells Evelyn Salt that a secret Soviet agent is going to kill the Russian president when he is visiting the U.S. for a funeral. But then, the defector kills three agents and runs away. Salt feels the pressure and escapes too…but why? Has she escaped to accomplish her mission (to kill the Russian president) or to prove her innocence?

For 100 minutes this film is unremitting action from the opening titles to the ending credits. Of course, there isn’t a second when any of this is logical or realistic but it IS the summer and it IS an action movie. Countless films have tried this same formula and come up with corn flakes, but this time, it comes up with something mighty tasty.

I can’t write much more without disclosing important plot details. I will say this: when the villain gets his comeuppance, I nearly jumped out of my chair. This was only one of many surprises in the film. This movie finesses the usual car chases and the Loop-d-Loop gymnastics of the superspy hero. Plot twists come as expected but in subtle ways these scenes have something fresh for us to enjoy.

I love the bit about her dog, her husband’s kidnapping, and the use of her sexual allure as a weapon against men (and without sex scenes). I understand that the film was originally written for Tom Cruise. Cruise would have made this film forgettable and ordinary. By changing the gender, the film makers made “Salt” intriguing.

I never thought I would write this, but here I go: Angelina Jolie was excellent. Is her character bad or good? Is Salt what she seems to be or is she not? It is to her credit that we keep guessing.

For once, the CIA isn’t the evil organization that Hollywood loves to portray. It is simply the backdrop for all this other activity. And contrary to what you may read in other reviews, “Russia” isn’t the evil enemy in “Salt.” The bad guys are Russians (former KGB types) who want to bring back the good ol’ Soviet days. Rogue Russians.

And half way through the film, thankfully, Angelina Jolie dyes her hair back to the color God intended…or, at least, the color I prefer. All is right with the world as she does her “thing.”

“Salt” is not a “great” film. It isn’t the kind of movie that will be on any film expert’s list of “Best Action Films.” It simply was a pleasant surprise. It was fun. It is mindless nonsense, of course. Yes, it is cheesy entertainment, but the cheese is yummy junk food.



“Salt” earns four bow ties out of five.