Salt

Movie name: Salt
Year of release: 2010
Director: Phillip Noyce
Stars: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski, August Diehl, Hunt Block, Andre Braugher
Genre: Action, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7

Synopsis: Australian director Phillip Noyce has had an interesting career, one that mixes big budget action films, such as "Patriot Games" and "The Bone Collector" with more personal material such as "Rabbit-Proof Fence" and "The Quiet American". "Salt" finds him tackling material that is similar to what Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass tackled in the Jason Bourne films: a spy that is trying to clear his/her name from accusations of wrong doing. "Salt" follows the story of Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent, who gets accused of being a russian spy by a defector of that country. Evelyn goes on the run, trying to clear her name and protect her husband. We soon realize that things are not as what seems and that there is indeed more to Evelyn than what was initially presented.
The film is compulsively watchable, mostly due to the fact that the action keeps propelling the film forward. The film doesn't really care for the improbability of it's stunts, it keeps it's hero going forth on her quest, fighting all odds, doing impossible feats, but always with a wink and a hint of surprise. Angelina Jolie brings her usual intensity to the role, adding that extra ambiguity to the character, someone whom the viewer never knows is in fact a spy or just a victim of a larger scheme. Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor are good companions for her, but this is her film through and through. A very good paranoid thriller worth watching.