"SALT"
The summer movie season is moving along predictably. There have been the successful sequels ("Iron Man 2" and "Toy Story 3"), the box-office disappointments ("Robin Hood," "The Prince of Persia," "The A-Team), and the 3-D and animated attractions sprinkled in. Now we have the seemingly annual film  -- "Salt" -- in which Angelina Jolie defies the laws of physics and snaps the arms and legs of male adversaries as if they were pretzels.

"Salt" originally was written with a male in the lead role -- reportedly with Tom Cruise in mind -- but when that fell through and
the main character was changed to a woman, naturally Jolie was perfect for the part. And with Jolie on board, "Salt" becomes a
little more than a standard action/espionage flick.

Director Philip Noyce, who has handled similar movies like "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger," works with a script by Kurt Wimmer ("Law Abiding Citizen") that pares everything down to action, once the talky parts that set up the plot are done.

Jolie's Evelyn Salt is a CIA agent now pretty much a paper pusher after enduring some horrific abuse at the hands of the North Koreans. Late one day as she is about to go home to her husband Mike (August Diehl) -- an expert on spiders -- a Russian defector shows up at the oil company building serving as a front for the CIA. Claiming his name is Orlov, the defector says that the Russian president, who is in the United States to attend the funeral of the late vice president, will be assassinated by an agent called KA-12, who has infiltrated the country.

Orlov then drops the bombshell, saying the agent's real name is Evelyn Salt.

Of course, all hell breaks loose. Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski) manages to escape while being escorted to a secure room in the headquarters. Evelyn, now under suspicion and concerned her husband might be in danger, manages to outsmart everyone on the building and slip away.

There are the usual conflicts between various branches of these intelligence agencies. Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) is an associate of Evelyn's and tends to believe Salt is being set up. Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who has higher jurisdiction over Winter, is not as willing to give Salt the benefit of the doubt.

The chase is on. Evelyn pulls off these spectacular stunts while Winter and Peabody, in the standard government-issued black SUV, get outrun. Evelyn makes it home only to discover evidence her husband has been abducted. Fortunately, Evelyn has a pre-packed backpack stashed away that contains all the necessary weapons, explosives and other items to help her take flight.

Wimmer's script initially wants to have the audience guessing as to whether or not Evelyn Salt really is a mole, trained by some master spy in Russia to carry out deeds that will crumble the U.S. government. But since that mystery is soon revealed, the next
question is where Salt's loyalty really lies.

There are the usual plot twists, but are really not surprises. Jolie is a star of great magnitude. She has shown to be a talented
dramatic actress, as indicated in "A Mighty Heart," "Changeling" and her Oscar-winning work in "Girl, Interrupted." She can also handle comedy ("Pushing Tin"), then switch gears and fit snuggly into action roles such as the "Lara Croft" movies, "Mr & Mrs. Smith" and "Wanted."

"Salt" is Jolie's movie from end to end, although seasoned pros Schreiber and Ejiofor offer competent support in roles that are
basically backdrops to the real action -- Jolie running, Jolie leaping. Jolie firing weapons and flinging grenades and Jolie
breaking bones. For a popcorn movie, it does not get much better than this.

"INCEPTION"
Christopher Nolan spent a number of years writing the screenplay to "Inception," working on it in between such gigs as directing a couple of "Batman" movies, including "The Dark Knight." This drawn out labor of love shows it, with the meticulous way Nolan unfolds the story, using stunning visuals, and then offering an ending that leads to various interpretations.

In other words, among all the summer sequels that are entertaining but lightweight, "Inception" is an oasis of originality crafted by a man who just hit age 40 at the end of July.

"Inception" is an exploration of the vast expanse of dreams, a theme that can be mishandled and turned into a silly psycho thriller. But under Nolan's guidance, this movie does not insult the intelligence of its audience. It challenges the viewer to pay attention. Be warned: This movie is two and a half hours long, so get the refreshment and restroom errands over with beforehand, because those who step out for a minute could become lost trying to follow this multi-layered story.

Leonardo DiCaprio, in his second straight outing in which his character blurs the distinction between what is real and what is
mental (see "Shutter Island"), plays Cobb, who is an expert at extraction. This is a skill in which, with the aid of technology and
some specially blended sedatives, he is able to extract information from a person via that person's dreams. The idea is to track down the desired information that person would prefer to keep secret. There are moral and legal implications to this process, which is why Cobb delivers an understatement when he says his work "is not quite legal."

Cobb and his team stumble through an unsuccessful extraction effort against Saito (Ken Watanabe), a powerful business mogul. However, Saito is impressed enough that he makes an offer that Cobb cannot refuse. Saito wants Cobb to conduct an inception -- plant an idea into the mind of a business rival. The complexities and risks are enough that Cobb at first refuses, but when Saito promises he can clean up a problem of Cobb's (he is wanted in the U.S. for the alleged murder of his wife, thus has had to stay out of the country and not see his two children), the mind invader agrees to take on the job.

He assembles a team that consists of techno wizard Arthur  (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a dream architect named Ariadne (Ellen Page), a forger, or imitator named Eames (Tom Hardy), and Yusuf (Dileep Rao), an expert on sedatives. 

One of the dazzling highlights of the movie is seeing Ariadne literally fold up Paris as she manipulates the physical aspects of a
dream as part of her initiation/training.

The team's target is Robert Fischer Jr, (Cillian Murphy) who is about to inherit his dying father Maurice's (Pete Postlethwaite)
massive company. Saito wants Cobb to implant an idea in Fischer's mind to break up this huge conglomerate.

So, sweet dreams, everyone. Brace yourself for a wild ride into the depths of the mind.

The inception/extraction process does have its down sides. For example, any participants who have some emotional baggage may
inadvertently introduce such issues into the dream sequences. For Cobb, this is a real problem, as his late wife, Mal (Marion
Cotillard), and his two children keep popping into the dream scenarios, at best creating minor distractions and at worst serving
as foils in the effort.

Nolan takes us on a trip that involves dreams within dreams and even dreams within dreams within dreams. That is why it is necessary to pay full attention. Indeed, some who have viewed "Inception" have admitted a second or third viewing may be required to catch everything.

As we all know, our dreams can also be vast travelogues, and Nolan's exploration of the subconscious offers an opportunity for a few extreme locales in which the dream scenarios take place.

There are numerous concepts and sub-plots that are served up in this movie, and reviewers have to step lightly to avoid revealing too much. "Inception" craftily ties things up at the end, but still, there is this lingering feeling that what you are seeing may or may not be real. Nolan again challenges the viewer to ponder what has happened and come up with his or her ideas on the ending. This movie should invite some lively post-viewing discussions.

"PREDATORS"
Remember those dreams wherein you are falling and you wake up with a start?

Well, the opening sequence of "Predators" takes that a lot further.

Adrien Brody as Royce awakens to find he is plummeting from the sky. Several seconds of full blown panic ensue as his freefall continues. Not far from the ground his chute does open but he still endures a brutal landing in the middle of a jungle.

This is an exceptionally gripping and exciting way to open a movie.  Unfortunately it also is the high point of "Predators."

The predators of the title are mostly invisible, thus you cannot see when they are coming or know when they will unleash their deadly attacks. The suspense and terror are built in. Everything else, even the characters, are incidental.

Once Royce regains his wits, he sees that he is not the only person dropped unceremoniously into this jungle. He soon encounters Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), Stans (Walter Goggins) and Mombasa (Mahershalalhasbaz Ali) fighting it out, Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien) and Isabelle (Alice Braga). When Stans and Mombasa quit trying to kill each other, it is time to pause and assess the situation.

All these people are heavily armed, except Stans, who is a convicted killer and has only a knife. The only other thing they have in common is they were happily engaged in their killing activities when suddenly a bright light came along and the next thing they knew they were engaging in impromptu skydiving, landing in this strange environment.

Eventually they come upon Edwin (Topher Grace), the odd one out. He says he is a doctor and has no weaponry. Why he is included in this group is a mystery they all shrug off. What is pertinent now is to find out where they are and why they are here.

Character development is waived and you figure: Why bother? Those of us familiar with the premise of the "Predator" movies know most of these people are not going to be alive much longer anyway.

Royce seems to be the brains of this informal operation. A mercenary, he is the most observant. He is the first to notice the
sun is not moving across the sky (well, it must move SOME because it eventually gets dark). Later when they come to a clearing, they are aghast to see the skyline dominated by two large nearby planets (why these planets were not noticed earlier is just one of the plot holes in the script by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch).

When they are attacked by a pack of dogs that make pit bulls seem like Chihuahuas, it is Royce who concludes they are on a game hunting planet and they are the game.

In hunting, the playing field never is level. The hunters are armed and the prey have nothing more than nature-provided defense
mechanisms that are no match for weaponry. In "Predators," the hunted are not only well armed but are trained in warfare. So the hunters have to establish bigger advantages.

Royce, ever the pragmatic survivalist, has no qualms about setting up his fellow huntees as bait, enabling him to deduce these predators have cloaking devices, likely some body armor and infrared vision. Isabelle is not too pleased about Royce's methods of obtaining information but she has to concede his argument: At least now we know what we are up against.

Now it's just a matter of trying to predict the order in which these people die. Since Royce seems to be the only one savvy enough to understand what it is like to be hunted, you can assume he will last longer than the rest.

Laurence Fishburne makes a brief appearance as Noland, who survived being hunted years earlier and has holed up inside an old facility, well supplied in  food and artillery. His only function in this movie is to offer the group a slim hope of escaping the planet. Then Noland suffers a complete character breakdown designed to write him out of the script quickly.

The suspense holds up pretty well in "Predators," which is the only reason to sit through an otherwise predictable movie. There is a bit of a surprise twist late in the film although if you really think about it, this supposed surprise makes little sense.

Brody and Braga provide the only characters of any substance, and neither one here is seriously challenged when it comes to dramatics. Braga, niece of Sonia Braga, has settled into a routine of being in somber action flicks like "I Am Legend," "Blindness" and "Repo Man," that test her physically rather than emotionally.

As for Brody -- back in 2002 after winning the Oscar for "The Pianist" he seemed on an upward trajectory to becoming a seriously
great actor, even though his lip-lock on Oscar presenter Halle Berry raised some eyebrows. Since then he has been seen in "King Kong," "Hollywoodland" and most recently getting too cozy with human hybrid in "Splice." At this rate he will not be kissing any lady Oscar presenters again any time soon.