Janet Bourne in The Bourne Kinda-Ultimatum

Salt – Phillip Noyce

A female action hero, in the same vein as the latest James Bond films and with the style and substance of the Jason Bourne series, sound familiar? No because no one has successful pulled it off with looking like a ridiculous rip off of the Bond or Bourne films. And with Angelina Jolie trying to make sure it is steered in the right direction, Salt is the latest in line to get those girls rallying over a female hero who doesn’t use her looks and her sexuality to conquer evil. Only one film comes to mind when thinking about strong female characters and it certainly isn’t Sex and the City. Kill Bill is one of the funniest and most action packed film that has a female lead as it’s hero and it’s done without making her look weak or making her to be less of a human compared to the males of the movie. And i like that, when a woman isn’t just a sex object for men in films. Jolie here attempts to take what she saw from Kill Bill and use it in a more realistic sense, having her change her hair and making her change her mind about certain terrorist groups. It’s all very confusing!

Anyway, Salt sees Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent who is accused of being a KGB sleeper agent, someone who after many years realises that her childhood had been the process of being trained to kill certain figures in the world. They planted children in the US to one day become killers but remain hidden in the shadows. After seeing that she will be prosecuted for it, she goes on the run to try and clear her name by going to various people to help her out. She finds out she was a KGB sleeper agent but she tries to change her motives to help the CIA, but in the end, runs away again. Certain scenes will be reminiscent of the Bourne films which will annoy you because you might as well just watch those to find the enjoyment because here it’s lacking the drive and the charisma of the excellent directing, the forward script and superb acting from Matt Damon. All of those aspects together make for a brilliant film and here it just seems to be the B-team to Damon’s A-team.

It’s fun for a little while but quickly becomes boring and seems to have a path that is long and winding and not focused on the end point. Sure it had a bit of success but that’s because it has Jolie in it, any film with Jolie will have hundreds of men wanting to see it, even for a glimpse of boob action.

4/10

Simon Childs