Salt

Having recently watched Phillip Noyce’s ‘Salt’, I’m still at somewhat of a loss as to some of the glowing reviews I’ve read of this ridiculous film. Being described by many as one of the action films of the summer and the first instalment of a potential ‘Bourne-esque’ franchise, ‘Salt’ should at the very least be entertaining. Yet somehow, despite a decent performance from Angelina Jolie in the lead role, ‘Salt’ merely comes across as boring, predictable, and above all else, stupid.

Littered with gaping plot holes and wooden performances from most of the cast, ‘Salt’ feels more like a bad B-movie, which Jolie has accidently stumbled into rather than a major Hollywood blockbuster. The story of evil Russian spies trying to bring down America is both tired and uninteresting, having been done many times before, only with far greater depth and intelligence. The result here is 1 hour and 40 minutes of watching Jolie carrying out an endless sequence of stunts which would have probably been rejected by the makers of ‘Die Hard 4’ on the grounds of being too far-fetched. Rather than developing and unfolding as an espionage/spy thriller in the vein of the ‘Bond’ or ‘Bourne’ films, ‘Salt’ shares far more in its plot exposition with a comic book movie, yet lacking any sense of charm or humour.

In addition to the sheer unoriginality and overall tedious tone, ‘Salt’ is also painfully predictable. The final ‘twist’ is not only obvious from around the 10 minute mark, but by the time it is ‘revealed’ I, along with most of the audience, had completely lost interest, possessing no element of surprise whatsoever. With characters this painstakingly dull and a plot that’s about as engaging and thrilling as an episode of ‘The Bill’, ‘Salt’ fails to deliver any of the essential components that are so essential to a film belonging to this genre.

The fact that Angelina Jolie still feels the need to make these kinds of film is equally disappointing, confirming her status, for me at least, as the most frustrating actress in Hollywood, somehow managing to move back and forth between film’s of genuine greatness and trashy nonsense; for every ‘A Mighty Heart’ there’s a ‘Tomb Raider’, for every ‘The Changeling’ there’s a ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’. Quite simply, an actress of Jolie’s talent and skill should not be wasting her time on rubbish like this, yet it almost seems inevitable that with ‘Salt’ being tipped as Hollywood’s next major franchise, there will be countless more below par action films to tarnish her CV in the coming years.