A Jolie good time

If you’ve never understood the appeal of Angelina Jolie,“Salt” may be required viewing. It’s a vehicle designed to show off its star inall her glory, and director Philip Noyce and director of photography RobertElswit are obviously die-hard fans of their leading lady, who puts in overtimehere to earn her paycheck (which was reportedly $20 million).

Jolie has never been one to try to get by on a pretty faceand some sex appeal. Like Susan Sarandon, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Pfeifferand other beauties of the previous generation, she knows you need more thanjust good looks to carry a movie. Jolie’s spellbinding, swimming pool-deep eyeslet us know she always has something cooking in her kitchen, and it’s usuallyworth waiting for.

In addition, the woman practically sweats charisma — and shehas plenty of reasons to sweat throughout “Salt.”

Kurt Wimmer’s sinuous screenplay is an unapologetic knockoffof “The Bourne Identity” and its sequels, with Jolie as Evelyn Salt, a CIAoperative who masquerades as an oil company executive (the none-too-subtlemessage is that the petroleum giants essentially run the government anyhow).It’s a tough way to make a living: When we first see Salt, she’s being torturedby nefarious North Koreans who, for unknown reasons, have forced her to stripdown to her underwear.

No wonder Salt is jostling for a desk job at the agency andhoping to spend more time with her German-born husband (August Diehl). However,her plans for an easier life are destroyed when a would-be Russian defector(Daniel Olbrychski) claims Salt is actually a sleeper agent trained by theSoviets during her childhood and sent to the U.S. to infiltrate intelligenceagencies and set in motion “Day X,” a chain of events that will decimateAmerica and brings the Soviets back to power.

Salt scoffs at the accusations, but her co-workers aren’tlaughing — nobody even makes an obvious crack about the Strategic ArmsLimitation Talks — and in no timeat all, she’s running for her life, with her sympathetic but duty-minded boss,Ted Winter (Live Schreiber), leading the pursuit. Thankfully, Salt is asimaginative and resourceful as MacGyver used to be, donning disguises with thegreatest of ease and, when necessary, creating an ersatz flamethrower out ofcleaning products and a plastic tube.

As soon as Salt goes on the lam, logic takes a vacation. Inone scene, we witness Salt stealing a fur hat from a street vendor. Secondslater, we notice she somehow managed to make off with the elegant, fur-trimmedcape that goes with it; she must have dropped by Bergdorf Goodman’s sidewalksale.

At another point, Salt has to play a game ofFrogger-in-reverse, leaping from the roof of one moving truck to another whileevading Winter and his cold-blooded rival, Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Thesequence is ridiculous, but that doesn’t make it any less exciting, and that’sthe trump card here: Even though the story is far-fetched almost from beginningto end, the combination of Noyce’s no-nonsense direction and Jolie’s feistinessis hard to resist. “Salt” operates in the same realm as most of the James Bondadventures (there’s even a knife concealed inside the toe of a shoe, a la “FromRussia With Love”) and, if you’re willing to indefinitely suspend yourdisbelief, it’s furiously paced fun.

Jolie also has a fascinating rapport with Schreiber, anasset the movie doesn’t completely capitalize on. Not only are they bothimposing, magnetic presences, their distinctive, seductive voices complementeach other superbly. “Salt” may be that rare action movie in which you findyourself wishing there were more dialogue scenes, if only to give us more timeto watch the interplay of these arresting actors. Alas, Salt has otherobligations, like saving civilization; a super-spy’s work is never done.