Salt 2010

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: The kind of thriller that skitters after its star playing catch-up. Read more

Todd McCarthy, indieWIRE: Jolie herself is in her full glory here as a character born when Bond and Brezhnev ruled. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It all happens in such a frenzy of momentum and on-the-fly exposition that some of the more preposterous elements in the story will strike you only in retrospect. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: It's easy to figure out what Salt is. But who is she? That's a question the film never really seemed interested in answering. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Salt is a senseless blast. Read more

John Anderson, Wall Street Journal: As she tries to find her husband, and perhaps assassinate the Russian president, she's not quite sure who or what she is. And neither are we. Which is precisely why the whole thing works. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: The relentless pace, hair-raising stunts and air of affected gravitas also goes a long way in boosting Salt a rung above much of this summer's other multiplex fare as a top-notch action thriller. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Noyce's past excursions into action filmmaking, most notably the Harrison Ford-as-Jack Ryan films, have been a bit flavorless, but here he delivers one from the gut. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Honestly, if this is the best the CIA, the Secret Service, the NYPD and whatever other government agency tasked with finding bad guys can do, we're in worse trouble than we thought. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: I want the Evelyn Salt workout. Otherwise, Salt is ridiculous. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Crushingly generic. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Like the condiment whose name it shares, director Phillip Noyce's run-like-hell thriller starring Angelina Jolie satisfies a basic human taste -- something to go with the popcorn. I liked it. It knows what it's doing. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: [Jolie is] probably the most dynamic action star in the movies right now and certainly the most exotic. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Thought the recently swapped Russian spy Anna Chapman was foxy? Hah. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Salt is a smart, fast, breathless blast of a spy flick that emulates the Bourne films in all the right ways. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's like a John le Carre double-agent yarn compacted into comic-book pulp as if by the makers of Con Air. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: Jolie does as well as she can with the twigs they've given her to make a plot house out of. Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: While preposterous at every turn, Salt is a better Bond movie than most recent Bond movies, as its makers keep the stunts real and severely limit CGI gimmickry. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Really, who goes to summer action movies for cast-iron logic anyway? Or for plausible characters, for that matter? Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: An old-school spy vs. spy action film complete with elaborate car and foot chases, deadly sleeper agents and frosty-eyed, vodka-shooting Soviet stalwarts who lament the fall of Communism and chortle evilly over the possibility of destroying the [USA]. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: I can't say if this nicely crafted nonsense will sell as a franchise, but I know that I miss the unpretentiousness of the Bourne movies. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: This old-fashioned spy actioner... is fast-moving, exciting and contains more twists than a tunnel under Checkpoint Charlie. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Some of the cheesiest '80s action movies were more fun than this one because their heroes were trained in a technique alien to Salt: a sense of humor. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Salt is about as believable as a secret training program for military pilots consisting entirely of kangaroos in flight helmets. But it must be said that the star carries her load admirably. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Jolie's days as an action heroine may be behind her. She's still got the cruel lips. But at some point, a cookie or two needs to pass over them to give her the brawn to pull off this stuff. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Jolie's action vehicle is just that -- an action vehicle, moving fast but thinking slow. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: There comes a point when it becomes difficult to take Salt seriously. That would be fine if this was an intentional parody of action spy thrillers, but it's not. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Why is Angelina Jolie starring in a Jean Claude Van Damme movie? Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It's like a rebuke to all the lousy action movie directors who've been banging pots and pans together in our skulls. It winds your clock tight and the alarm doesn't go off for 100 minutes. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Salt is primed to keep your pulse racing so your brain will stop thinking, "WTF!" Go with the illogic or you'll miss the fun. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Salt is a well-greased, smoothly functioning machine that drives forward with tremendous momentum, elevating your pulse rate and relieving you of the need to think for more than a second or two at a stretch. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Its narrative strategy is to leave audiences in the dark for much of the action, but each tidbit we're given fits into the broader picture. The action scenes are imaginative and elaborate without seeming fake. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: The audience's relationship to Jolie as an off-screen superhero -- a bona-fide, old-school movie star -- makes her ludicrously competent character seem contiguous with her real-life persona. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Despite enough hand-to-hand combat to glut an MMA marathon, this movie is about as much fun as getting slugged in the head. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: As a consumable resource, Salt goes down easy, but it's lacking both nourishment and flavor. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: [T]he limited, forgivable absurdities... gradually give way to a level of pandemic preposterousness that makes Ethan Hunt look like George Smiley. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: This is a movie with a massive Cold War hangover. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: A relentlessly moving flick that cements Jolie's position as queen of the action stars. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Noyce's methods of crafting suspense are defiantly old-fashioned: low-angle shots for maximum viewer disorientation and a preference for daredevil stunt work over CGI cheating. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: The focus here is less on creating a credible set of characters and motives than on manufacturing an excuse to have Jolie leapfrog between high-speed lorries. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Things slowly start to deteriorate despite the best efforts of the star and her behind-the-scenes collaborators. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: While the plot is outlandish, it unspools with obvious twists and turns. The film has its tense moments, but instead of dazzle, there's a workmanlike quality to the action sequences. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Noyce rolls up his sleeves and delivers an unpretentious piece of action-movie craftsmanship that proves worthy of its star's own consummate professionalism. Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: This is still closer to product than art. Highly satisfying, often exhilarating, refreshingly unpretentious product. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Salt, a ludicrous but somehow credible spy thriller starring Angelina Jolie, delivers a swift, super-charged kick in the pants. Read more