Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) lets her spy skills fly as she tries to prove she's not a Russian mole in Salt. Provided to China Daily

Summer's first action blockbuster to behave as expected, reports Elizabeth Kerr.

Now is the summer of Hollywood's discontent, with huge releases - like Robin Hood, The A-Team, Sex and the City 2, Shrek Forever After, Iron Man 2, Prince of Persia, Knight and Day - underperforming at the box office and critically to such a degree that job security at the major studios may be the next big water cooler discussion. It has even given birth to the theory that (American) television is hands down superior to what is in theaters. The only film to truly meet expectations since the summer blockbuster season started in May is, not surprisingly, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Most other films have crashed and burned and left the block resolutely busted.

When Angelina Jolie turned the ludicrous Wanted into a surprise hit a few years back, the word on Hollywood streets was that there was a new confirmed action player in town. The idea had been brewing for some time, given Jolie's success with the Tomb Raider movies and Mr. And Mrs. Smith; few men and fewer women can "open" a film globally these days, and it would seem that Jolie has joined Will Smith and Tom Hanks as the industry's go-to stars when studios need to guarantee a hit. With box office figures down and critical reviews down even farther for summer tent poles that do not feature animated characters, everyone is waiting to see if last week's Inception and this week's Salt can lift the industry out of its seasonal doldrums. Whether that is a reasonable demand to place on one actor is debatable, but this is how the industry works. And if anyone can shoulder a summer shoot-em-up, it is certainly Angelina Jolie.

Jolie has a dual charm. She is simultaneously vulgar and glamorous, super-tough and ultra-feminine. In 2010 she is a far bigger star than her famous significant other (Brad Pitt for those under a rock for the last five years) and is often ridiculously referred to as the most beautiful woman in the world. Most importantly for Salt, Jolie is an Oscar nominee who is far more convincing wielding a gun than any real emotions. Salt is a film that works with her strengths as a movie star, and it could well place her in the pantheon alongside rare female action stars like Sigourney Weaver (who made Alien's Ellen Ripley an icon), Linda Hamilton (who made The Terminator's Sarah Connor an icon), and even Lucy Lawless (who made Xena: Warrior Princess' Xena an icon). Ironically, it is rumored that Salt was developed for Tom Cruise - who opted to do the aforementioned Knight and Day instead. Woops.

Salt is, basically, a James Bond movie and as incredible as it may seem, it is even more ridiculous than Wanted. It is also old-fashioned: The film hinges on the conceit of a Russian sleeper spy ready to wreak havoc in the United States two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall (recent news will give the film a sudden shot of currency). But Salt is also an old-fashioned bit of fluffy entertainment that relies on old school pyrotechnics and stunts (performed by stunt people) to tell the story and create suspense.

Evelyn Salt is a CIA analyst of some sort, reassigned to a cushy desk job in Washington D.C. after a tough gig overseas. She is happily married to Mike Krause, a geeky German scientist (August Diehl), but her life gets turned upside down when an alleged defector comes into headquarters one day and tells everyone in the room a story about a sleeper spy and a plot to kill a Russian politico. When it looks like Evelyn and her boss Winter (Live Schreiber) are getting bored with his nonsense, the defector drops the bomb: The killer spy's name is Evelyn Salt. Enter one-time colleague-turned-enemy Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his pursuit of Evelyn across continental USA.

There is nothing else to the narrative. The rest of the movie is about watching Jolie change accents, hairstyles and genders (yes, genders) on her way to fulfilling her mission. Is she really a spy? She appears to be doing everything the CIA expects of the enemy, but is the CIA itself driving Evelyn to such desperate acts - which include taking on entire army platoons, both American and Russian? Maybe. Maybe not, but it does not really make that much of a difference. Salt is all about Jolie looking either cool or hot and the thrill of the chase.

Less cartoon/video game than Lara Croft and slightly more human (if you can call this kind of action character human) than Mrs. Smith, by the end of the film it is really difficult to imagine Evelyn Salt as anything else, and this includes a man that looks remarkably like Tom Cruise. The conclusion is never really in doubt (Jolie is a heroine ... always) and there are zero surprises along the way. That is okay, when all the players involved, including Schreiber (who can make the Yellow Pages interesting), Ejiofor (last seen doing a lot of brow-furrowing in 2012), and the painfully underutilized Andre Braugher as the Secretary of Defense, understand the point of the film: Mindless fun.

And director Phillip Noyce - who showed his flair for tension building in Dead Calm and espionage action in Patriot Games - and writer Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium) keep that clearly in their efficient, constantly moving line of sight. Any details from outside the realm of Evelyn's CIA shenanigans fall (quite sloppily) by the wayside, but Noyce and company steamroll over pesky necessities, like thorough character development, and wrestle all the elements together while they avoid Bondian pitfalls (too many quips) and exploit the best tropes (outrageous derring-do).

Though this was once a Cruise vehicle, his brand of overwhelming movie star would have only distracted from the action (again, the limpid and lumpy Knight and Day). Jolie is every bit the star, but she does blend into the background and knows when to let the flying cars take center stage. The question screaming from movie posters is "Who is Salt?" and like the rest of the film, that is a no-brainer. She is Angelina Jolie to the very core and at this stage of the game could likely kick Cruise and Bond's butts. At the same time.

Salt opened in Hong Kong Thursday.

(HK Edition 07/24/2010 page4)