“Salt” is what you get when you take the plot of “Mission: Impossible,” marry it with the style of the “Bourne” trilogy and throw in a bit of “The Manchurian Candidate” and “The Fugitive” to stir things up. The result is a moderately entertaining, sometimes even intriguing summer blockbuster that unfortunately takes itself way too seriously and castrates itself of any humor, interesting characters and a sense of urgency. If you’re looking for a summer movie of substance, you’re better off watching “Inception.” But if all you care about is watching a frail Angelina Jolie show-off how much of a “badass” she is as she preposterously leapfrogs from bridges, 18-wheelers, tankers, trains, SUVs, motorcycles, helicopters and whatever vehicle you can think of, without a scratch, then this is your fix.

Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is one of the CIA’s top officers, having served many years as an undercover agent, including a brief stint as a prisoner in North Korea, as depicted in the film’s prologue. As she prepares to go home to celebrate her two-year anniversary with husband Mike (August Diehl), an arachnologist (he studies spiders – Hmm, think that’ll come into play?), Salt is suddenly called back in to interrogate a Russian defector named Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski). As the interrogation progresses, he reveals the existence of a program involving trained Russian sleeper spies and a sinister plot to assassinate the Russian President. Salt doesn’t take any of this seriously until Orlov names her as one of the sleeper spies, a fact that is confirmed as truth by the CIA’s highly advanced truth detector machine. For reasons unknown and suspicious, Salt makes the run for it –“The Fugitive”-style as she is pursued by former allies Ted Winters (Liev Schreiber) and Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor). From then on, the movie becomes an elaborate and extended chase sequence that moves from Washington D.C. to New York City and back.

As a majority of the publicity materials and fluff stories will inform you, “Salt” was originally titled “Edwin A. Salt” and envisioned as a star-vehicle for Tom Cruise before he departed the project citing too many similarities to his Ethan Hunt character. The film (and character) then underwent a retooling and sex change when Jolie boarded the project. Despite the supposed changes, I can’t see how much of a re-tooling the script had to go through as there’s nothing of significance here to differentiate the film from the picture Cruise would have done. In fact, it’s a bit baffling why Cruise dropped the project to do “Knight and Day” instead. Take out the bits of comedy and romance and Cruise’s character Roy Miller is practically the same role as Salt. Both are spies on the run who have the supernatural ability to jump from bridges, cars and helicopters without a scratch while remaining a mystery to those pursuing them.

As for Jolie, she once again proves that when it comes to action movies, she simply has no peer. As Salt, she commands the screen with the viciousness and confidence of Jason Bourne and the attitude of Ethan Hunt. It’s not a performance that’s going to win her any Oscars but as far as star-vehicles go, it does the job. I only wish there was a bit more humor in the role. Even the grim Bourne movies are peppered with a more sense of fun than “Salt.”

Director Phillip Noyce, who directed the thematically-similar “Patriot Games” and “Clear and Present Danger” and who previously worked with Jolie on “The Bone Collector,” does a solid job with keeping the movie tight and the action exciting. The problem here isn’t the direction but the script by Kurt Wimmer (“Law-Abiding Citizen,” “Ultraviolet,” “Street Kings”). Wimmer is a writer whose work is often infested with preposterous “Hollywood” moments that have more often than not, destroyed the credibility of the stories he writes. Like “Law-Abiding Citizen” “Salt” takes itself far too seriously but then contradicts itself by with one unbelievable sequence after another. Whether it’s an action sequence or a plot twist, nothing is remotely close to believable.

As much of a “badass” as Jolie is, it’s still utterly preposterous to see her knocking out half-a-dozen 200-lb guys with a single punch. I know we’ve seen this one-man-army stuff in the “Bourne” and the latest Bond movies but at least in those films, you actually see Bourne or Bond engage in a close-quarters hand-to-hand fight without cutting away. In “Salt,” all Jolie has to do is jump in the air, gnash her teeth and swing her elbow for the guy to go down on his knees, yelping. In one ridiculous sequence, Salt jumps off a bridge and then proceeds to play hopscotch over an interstate, jumping from an 18-wheeler to a tanker to a bus and then unto a motorcycle on her way to safety.

There’s also the issue of development. The movie’s promotional campaign asks the question “Who is Salt?” but the time the movie concludes with a blatant “let’s leave it open for the sequel” ending, I didn’t care. It doesn’t feel earned because Wimmer doesn’t give us a reason to invest in these characters. Whatever character moments we do get are through vague and random flashbacks that feel like they were tacked on in the editing booth. Seriously, how many times does looking at your dog remind you of the time you met your significant other?

BOTTOM LINE: As far as action-packed summer blockbusters go, you could do far worse than “Salt.” For the most part, this action thriller is a well-crafted and good-looking spy movie in the vein of the “Jason Bourne” and “Mission: Impossible” franchises. But even though Angelina Jolie is strong as usual, there’s nothing outside her performance that’s worth watching. The action sequences are far too ridiculous, the story is far-fetched (yes, even with what’s going on in the news), the characters are glorified caricatures, and by the time all is said and done, there’s an excellent chance you won’t remember or care about any of it.

GRADE: B-

SALT
Directed by: Phillip Noyce
Written by: Kurt Wimmer
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Rated: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action)