Salt

Salt is a good movie for the first hour. After that ...

Angelina Jolie stars as Evelyn Salt - a tough as nails CIA Agent who has been pushed to the brink in ways not many have, or could withstand.

It's her anniversary and she's trying to hightail it out of the office for a romantic evening with the hubby, when a mysterious Russian shows up looking to defect and spill the beans on a top secret plot to assassinate the Russian President at the American Vice President's funeral in New York.

Salt and her partner, Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber), think the guy has had one too many vodkas, until he announces the assassin is Evelyn Salt!

Is Salt a secret Russian spy?

Can she escape and clear her name, or kill the Russian President if that's what she's supposed to do?

For the first hour, Salt is a fast-paced, damn the dialogue because we have running, shooting and stuff exploding to get to kind of movie with Evelyn Salt becoming a ferocious James Bond in high heels and a very tight skirt (sure, Daniel Craig is a tough guy, but has he beat up a dude while wearing stilettos and no panties?).

Then, director Phillip Noyce and writer Kurt Wimmer ruin the fun by trying to come up with plot twists, dialogue, and a story that stinks and destroys what could have been a fun, even if brainless, romp.

Sadly, action is the only thing Salt has going for it. The chase scenes are entertaining (even if some action moves are repeated over and over again). Noyce and Wimmer (and the stunt coordinator) keep the audience wondering how Salt will escape, since each pursuit appears to be her doom. We even get a chance to laugh as she constantly steals clothes for disguises and everything just happens to fit perfectly (she's like a size 0, how do you find a size 0 on the rack?). Dialogue only gets in the way and barely advances the story in the most miniscule of manners, but, at least, it is fleeting and not very important, until artistic guilt seems to set in.

That's when Noyce and Wimmer try to get to the story, but what they really do is put the brakes on this movie. Salt gets more ridiculous by the minute as Noyce and WImmer try to add some layers to the story, but only bury Salt in the process. The team attempts to blow our minds with "shocking" developments the audience can see coming, so not alot of blowing going on (maybe some sucking, but not alot of blowing), and they take the movie to extremes beyond reality and comprehension, even for a summer blockbuster. Bad choices are worse than no choices.

Salt is better if you take off about an hour into it. No one will blame you, and you'll feel better about the whole experience.

Salt is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action.