A hard one to rate, was Salt. Angelina Jolie is famous for so many roles, Lara Croft and Mrs Smith included, so this venture to play a caring wife, turned Russian spy seems to have come from nowhere: indeed, Salt certainly hasn't been pressed as one of this summer's top blockbusters, and much of my wanting to see it involved caution and intrigue at what lay ahead in the 100 minute flick. So the way I'll go about this is as such: the bad points first, then the good. The pacing here is off for reasons I can't quite fathom, especially since at times Jolie seems to want to go for a film not unlike one of the Bond or Bourne instalments, though this can add to a feeling Evelyn Salt thinks her methods out much like Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes. Plus, at times Jolie makes her character a little too diverse even for a spy, and while the moments of humour are far and few in-between, when Salt does get in some comedy it seems to be unable to decide whether it wants to pursue that genre of emotion. In addition, the film seems to lack heart and soul at times, simply being an action romp with some emotional twists. Now for the good news: those twists are finely handled, and for the most part will throw you off guard. When Angelina is working hard, she shines as this multi-layered antihero, and the eventually revealed adversary is a great Moriarty to her Holmes. Should this be on your "Must See" list for this summer? No, but there's no denying this is well worth a watch at home, and is a solid foundation for what could easily become a series on the scale of its competitors.
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