Movie Review - Salt - with Anjelina Jolie & Liev Schrieber

"Do you think people are who they say they are?" It's a simple question that is asked in nearly every movie, and most times the answers are real simple, but in Salt, the latest Angelina Jolie blockbuster, it's supposed to be a bit more complicated. People change sides like a steroid loving Sean Connery in Entrapment, leaving the audience wondering who is Evelyn Salt? Sure, you may be thinking it all sounds terribly cliched, and you are right, there is more cliched themes in this movie than you can count, but there is enough to like in the movie to justify the popcorn.

Evelyn Salt (Jolie) starts off being tortured by the Koreans, as we learn, despite her denial that she is CIA. Once the incredibly dramatic scene progresses, we learn that she is the best there is in the CIA, until a Russian spy (apparently, they still have those) wanting to defect comes in and names her as a spy who is going to kill the Russian president to start a world war. Are you with me so far? Good. Because what follows is some crazy action, and some serious side shifting by just about everyone involved until you are not sure who to cheer for, so you just cheer for Jolie because she's hot.

Alright, so the down side to this movie is that it is yet another mindless action movie that will leave your head as soon as you get out of the theater. Sadly, it's a bit of a trend this year, but the movie is so cliched, you will be left chuckling at the absurdity and saying it was the one-armed man, and if you are one of those people that say "there is no way she could do that in real life," then you are going to hate this movie.

Never let it be said that I just spout off negative stuff about every movie. There was plenty of good things in this movie. For one, the performance of Angelina Jolie was spot on. She was hot, lethal, and very believable in her action-heavy role. Her costars in Liev Schrieber and Chiwetel Ejiofor also were equally good, and very dramatic in their respective roles as the agents chasing down Salt. When you get down to it, Salt focused on the action, and it shows.

If you've seen the trailer for the movie, and have some movie savvy to you, then you will have probably figured out the entire movie, which is a shame, because at an hour and 26 minutes, there are plenty of worse ways to spend your summers, just don't plan on contemplating it afterwards, like you did with Inception, because afterwards, you'll simply be asking yourself "what's next?"

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