Apart from its reportedly strong entertainment value, exhibitors are doubly delighted with Phillip Noyce‘s Salt because of its 95-minute running time (plus titles), which obviously allows for more shows per day than the 148-minute Inception. Five or six 11 am-to-midnight shows daily vs. four, not counting midnighters. What’s the shortest action thriller ever released? I’m asking.

The Boston Herald‘s Stephen Schaefer, fresh from this weekend’s Washington, D.C. Salt junket, has called it “the best damn thriller I’ve seen in years. Noyce once again nails the political thriller, mixing high octane action with, as we’ve learned from recent headlines, real-world spy issues. Angelina Jolie stars/scores as CIA operative Evelyn Salt, on the run as an accused sleeper cell Russian agent who attempts to stop an assassination and regain her security clearance. Like Lisbeth Salander, she rates as an irresistible fantastical creation in a realistic milieu.”