Salt
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Director: Philip Noyce
Certificate: 12A
Rating: 3/5
Salt has had a hard life. It was a script that bounced around for a while and originally had Tom Cruise on board to play the lead. After a quick re-write (with a sex change) Angelina Jolie jumped into the role of Evelyn Salt, a CIA super spy.
This fast paced action thriller sees Evelyn Salt labelled as an undercover Russian spy and forced to go on the run, going after those who accused her and trying to find her missing husband.
She also has to do this with her fellow agents Winter and Peabody (Schreiber and Ejiofor) trying to bring her in, just to make her task even harder.
In terms of being a fast paced thriller, Salt, mostly lives up to its part. The trouble is though, that it never has the conviction to follow through properly.
What start with a great, high tempo and gritty beginning ends with a pretty ridiculous action set piece and a really foreseeable twist. This is a film that sets out as a female Jason Bourne movie, but never delivers on that high a level, feeling more like a Pierce Brosnan era Bond film.
The film really does benefit from that change in gender though. Jolie brings a great intensity to Salt, making her a real force to be reckoned with and greatly compelling lead.
Unfortunatly, she’s let down by completely by-the-numbers performances from both Schreiber and Ejiofor.
With the film not helped by a distinctly average and at some points slightly crazy script, Salt relies on both Jolie’s cracking performance and Noyce’s dynamic direction.
These aren’t bad things to rely on though, and Salt is easily above a lot of the Bourne imitators out there.
Even though Salt loses its steam after a great start, Jolie’s return to big time action is definatly not a dissapointment.
With a sequel in the pipeline already, Salt might just yet spice the spy game up a little more.
Salt is out now
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith