Salt

A CIA agent (Angelina Jolie) is suspected of being a Russian undercover agent planning to assassinate the Russian president on a visit to the United States, all in a plot to bring on nuclear war. Kurt Wimmer’s twisty-turny script has more howlers than a convention of timber wolves; it’s full of surprises, yes, but they’re only surprising because they don’t make any sense (it’s the same shtick he perpetrated in Law Abiding Citizen and Ultraviolet). In support of Jolie are nice-guy Liev Schreiber and hard-nosed Chiwetel Ejiofor; guess which one turns out to be a villain and won’t be back for the sequel. (Yes, the whole movie is a bid to create an action franchise for Jolie; c’mon, folks, let’s nip this one in the bud.) Director Phillip Noyce tries bravely to divert us with nonstop action, with only humdrum results.