Movies

The camera loves Angelina Jolie. She has a face you could stare at for hours, an otherworldly beauty that justifies her celebrity status. Fortunately, she's also a superb actress and she brings her A-game to Salt, an action-packed political thriller directed by Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce.

Jolie's character, CIA officer Evelyn Salt, was originally conceived as Edwin Salt — a man. But at some point in the screenwriting process, producers envisioned Jolie in the role. And thankfully, she accepted; having always wanted to be James Bond, she jumped at the chance to play an action hero.

In a plot that blends elements of The Bourne Identity and The Fugitive, Salt finds herself on the run when a Russian agent brought in for questioning fingers her as a spy.

The less said about the plot the better — Salt is full of twists that would be ruined for anyone who knew the truth going in to the cinema.

Noyce's film is loaded with incredible stunts and action sequences — the most memorable being a highway chase in which Salt leaps from the tops of trucks, out of moving cars and off bridges to escape government agents.

The film does become increasingly silly in its second hour — there can only be so many double-crosses and revelations before it becomes parody. The biggest flaw is a climactic scene where Salt disguises herself as a man — Jolie is simply too beautiful for any Hollywood make-up artist to make it believable.