Salt

Directed by Philip Noyce

(PG-13)

**

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Angelina Jolie and Salt “make the Cold War cool again,” said Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News. Stepping into a role originally written for Tom Cruise, Jolie plays a CIA officer who, after she’s accused of being a Russian double agent, goes on the run. Director Philip Noyce borrows from classic spy films—as well as revisiting his own Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger—to create a film that feels like a throwback. Whether it’s choosing Russia as the enemy or opting for old-school hand-to-hand combat, Noyce makes “the retro thrills feel new.” Salt may be clever, but it’s also “ludicrous and lacking in even the slightest shred of humanity,” said Christy Lemire in the Associated Press. Forty minutes in, absurdity takes over as Jolie scales a wall in a pencil skirt, treats a wound with a maxi pad, and kills a man with a stiletto. These antics do make Salt seem ridiculous, but that’s part of the fun, said Ann Hornaday in The Washington Post. And Jolie’s nonchalant acrobatics and implacable game face lend “even the film’s most outrageous set pieces an air of seriousness and focus.”