She Spies

Angelina Jolie’s got your number, Tom Cruise.

The actress slinks into a role that was, at one point, tailor-made for the Cruiseter, in Salt, a twisty blockbuster set in the intriguing spy world from Phillip Noyce, a director well-versed in all things thrilling (he did Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger).

The switch of the character’s gender (Edwin is now Evelyn) is an effectively slink, one that Noyce acknowledges may at one point have been considered “outrageous” behind the scenes.

It works, though, because, as Salt, the ever-evolving Jolie brings a little som’in’ som’in of herself to a role that could’ve been pretty one-note (no offense, Tom). She keeps us guessing.

The powers that be worked hard to make Salt their “own new person” and reflect the complexities of a woman confronted with a situation that makes the audience wonder for a long stretch whether she’s good or bad.

That she’s a badass is never in question.

For the most part, they pulled off the conceit of a CIA officer accused of being a Russian sleeper spy – and set up Salt as a potential franchise – quite nicely. Sure, some of the pullings of the rug were a tad predictable, but, y’ know what, I enjoyed them all the same.

The plot is simple (it is summer, after all): Jolie plays this top CIA officer, right, who specializes in all things Russian. The movie opens with a flashback, to a torture scene at a North Korean prison that she endures without breaking cover. She has been disavowed, but eventually, one of her colleagues (Liev Schreiber, intense as always) comes to her rescue – at the behest of her husband who would stop at nothing to get her back.

This is one of a few of increasingly arbitrary flashbacks that reveal a little more about our heroine, betray our confidence in her, and uncover a wild conspiracy to strike at the United States in the worst way.

Two years after this harrowing experience, Salt is about to go home early to celebrate her anniversary when a walk-in defector accuses her of being a sleeper programmed as a child and sent stateside to assassinate the president.

It’s a veritable WTF moment for those around her – she’s been nothing but loyal to her country – and for her (or is it?), so she does the only thing she can do: run. She runs and puts to good use her training to elude capture, protect her family, and stay one step ahead of the agency so she can clear her name.

The problem is by doing so Salt may be proving exactly the charges on her head.

Nothing is what it seems in Salt, and I like that. It’s not the best movie of its kind, but it entertains – as a member of Team Aniston (I know, neither here nor there), I cannot wait to see Jolie reprise this role again soon…which is a bit of a given.

My Rating ***

Photo: Sony Pictures.