Action Angie

In Salt, Jolie plays another tough, vengeful warrior, a type as popular with young males as it is untethered from female reality | Megan Basham

Columbia Pictures Industries/Sony Pictures Entertainment

It is impossible to analyze a movie like Salt without delving into the appeal of its star, Angelina Jolie. From start to finish Salt, rated PG-13 for language and violence, is a run-of-the-mill, preposterously plotted action flick—something of a low-rent Bourne Identity or less-stylish James Bond. The only thing setting it apart from other movies of its type is the fact that its protagonist is a woman.

Straight action vehicles have historically been the domain of men, and it's telling that Tom Cruise was originally slated to star here. But over the past few years Jolie has changed the field. First as a co-star and now as a solo act, she is the first A-list female to have built a career in the adrenaline game. Every other actress on Hollywood's highest earning list from Reese Witherspoon to Sandra Bullock to Meryl Streep makes most of her money in dramas and romantic comedies—that is, the kinds of movies popular with women.