 "Photo: Columbia Pictures")
Spy movies are a dime a dozen.
Every few years Hollywood attempts to reinvent the wheel and regain ground lost to James Bond - the quintessential spy series.
Sometimes, they succeed. Jason Bourne, whose luck may or may not be down to sharing initials to the tuxedo-wearing, Martini-drinking superspy, has earned his pips.
"XXX" … not so much.
"Salt," starring Angelina Jolie, isn't a brilliant spy movie, but it's certainly a fun one.
There are few movies that can actually make you question what's going on. Of course, the twists and turns of "Salt" are by no means in the same league as the reality questioning "Inception," but they are pretty stunning.
Jolie stars as Evelyn Salt, a CIA operative with a long history of serving the United States. She's served her country, surviving a long haul in a North Korean prison camp and keeping her cover.
Her world is rattled, however, when a Russian defector walks into their building offering secrets.
It turns out Russia has embedded spies ready to take down the country over a long period of time. It's almost like it has been ripped out of recent headlines, with the news of a large group of operatives trying to worm their way into the circles of policy makers and the influential.
Salt's fellow agents, erring on the side of caution, take her in for questioning. Knowing how government agents work in the intelligence community, Salt flees. She has to find her husband who has suddenly become unavailable at the time of her accusations.
But like so many before her, she has to also clear her name at the same time as bringing down a supposedly deep-rooted soviet mission.
Is Salt who she says she is? Is there any validity in the Russian's claims? Time is running against her, as the ominous "Day X," the day the Russian sleeper cell springs into action, is drawing near.
There are times when "Salt" really shines. Jolie is no stranger to action movies, nor to the spy game – "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" was a breath of fresh, domestic air in the genre. Her intensity and vixenish side always makes for enjoyable viewing. But the same can't be said of her supporting cast, including Liev Schreiber ("The Manchurian Candidate").
At times, they devolve into the unfortunate world of stock characters, existing only for the chase and not for the story. Even when his character is given center stage, it seems like he's giving the same, monotonous tone he's shown throughout the movie.
There are moments when it blurs into absurdity, such as Jolie leaping off subways and just happening to catch the roof of a passing tractor-trailer – not once, but twice.
There is also one moment where, despite being jaded and desensitized to most Hollywood movies, actually made my jaw drop. Which was quite surprising – this isn't the kind of movie that is supposed to shock you at certain plot points.
"Salt," unfortunately, failed to capitalize its timeliness with the capture of Russian spies in the United States. It missed the opportunity to have a "Law and Order" style "ripped from the headlines" tie-in. It also suffers from opening the week after a movie that has people constantly talking about it.
Though not as memorable as Jason Bourne or as stylish as a Bond movie, "Salt" is a more than entertaining entry into the spy genre.