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May 17, 2024, 10:14:17 PM | Salt **
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Angelina Jolie stars as Evelyn Salt,a trusted and loyal CIA operative who is forced to go on the run when a Russian defector convinces her superiors that she's a double agent sent to assassinate the President of the United States. As the intense manhunt heats up, Salt uses all of her skills as a covert operative to elude capture as she fights to uncover a secret so explosive it could change the course of world history.
Salt is rubbish. Let’s get that out of the way first. If all you’re looking for is a basic “should I watch this” review, then be assured, you should not. Don’t waste your time, money or sanity. And in the unlikely event there is a sequel, don’t start thinking you missed something.
It’s worth saying why it is such a disappointment, particularly considering the director is Phillip Noyce. The first hour of the film is actually ok, but Noyce never used to just be ‘ok’. We had watchable fun like Blind Fury, and Dead Calm had some real tension. Neither of them tried to punch above their weight, but he also directed Patriot Games and The Quiet American, both of which were solid, character driven political thrillers, with truly astonishing set-pieces. Salt is clearly a cross between Bourne and Bond with tits, so Noyce’s contribution following Paul Greengrass and Martin Campbell should have been much more interesting. I honestly think the ambush sequence in his second Jack Ryan film (Clear And Present Danger) was a big influence on the action genre and holds up today. Much of its success was probably down to the always reliable Harrison Ford, but that was the point. Noyce keeps his star character front and centre, no matter what the sequence was.
The star of this film, Angelina Jolie, is certainly worth seeing for that first half. Salt was supposed to be a Tom Cruise vehicle (he probably bailed when he saw the full script!), but switching to a female agent is no gimmick at least. Her escape early in the film is great and will pique your interest. Even here though, the action runs like a predictable computer game and then by the halfway point the story is getting too silly to be taken as seriously as the cast seem to. The high-point is a clever twist on an assassination attempt, but it nosedives so quickly! It becomes an absolute joke during the second escape sequence, when Jolie uses a Taser to control the driver of the police truck she’s in. No, really, I’m being serious. It’s almost “one jolt for forward, two for backward”! I defy you to keep a straight face. I know some action films are successfully built on such silliness, like Shoot 'Em Up, but the story here is taken so seriously. From then on the shameless audacity of the writing will keep you laughing so you don’t fall asleep from the dull, lumpy narrative with daft flashbacks.
Clearly writer Kurt Wimmer is the real villain here. His IMDB profile is a list of dull crap, the highlight being Law Abiding Citizen. He also did Street Kings, another film that had a grain of potential swallowed by awful plotting. He’s down for the Total Recall remake, so I’m raising the prediction of that films quality from “Probably Rubbish” to “Shoot Me Now”. Salt feels like a prequel to the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, it’s that bad.
When I first saw the trailer, I was pretty convinced this was an update of the Kevin Costner thriller, No Way Out, but the premise is really just a device for a straightforward ‘accused and on the run to prove innocence’ plot. The twist being, you can’t be absolutely sure Salt is innocent. That just detracts, whereas films like The Fugitive and French thriller Tell No One have more tension because the viewer knows where they stand from the start.
By the end, where even the worst films can have a glimmer of redemption, all hope is lost. Jolie had been doing her best to keep the thing afloat, with genuinely good help from her two co-stars Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor, but all three of them are undone by an awful plot. It always had an uphill struggle. I thought the Russians were our friends now? Aren’t the Koreans supposed to be the ones we’re all paranoid about? It feels desperate and dated straight out of the box. The DVD/Blu-Ray just compounds how awful it is, with two alternative cuts, one of which has a different ending. I didn’t think it could be worse, but bloody hell it really can! The three cuts just show how messed up and unfocused the production was.
Too much Salt really is bad for you. And trust me, that awful gag was still better than the film!
(From Jon's Random Reviews on May 15th, 2011)
Member's Reviews
Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur, a review by addicted2dvd
Title: Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur
Year: 1994
Director:
Rating: NR
Length: 90 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles:
Stars:
Kevin Sorbo
Anthony Quinn
Tawny Kitaen
Michael Hurst
Anthony Ray Parker
Plot:
Hercules discovers he has a half-brother he never knew, but more importantly that Zeus was forced by his brother's evil behavior to punish him by changing him into a monster trapped in a maze. When some young men accidentally find their way into his lair, it's up to Hercules and Iolaus to save the day.
Extras:
Scene Access
My Thoughts:
This is the final TV movie from before the series started. I think part of what I don't care for in this one is the way the use clips from the previous movies after just recently watching them. I can see if it is most likely been a long time since you seen the other movies... but when it comes to watching on DVD in rapid succession it really takes away from the story. I would have much rather seen a full new story then this. I did enjoy the main story... it would have just been much better if they left out all the story telling (clips from previous movies),
My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5
(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Multi-Themes on January 15th, 2010)
Member's TV Reviews
Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom
 | Die Didi-Show: Die komplette Serie (1990/Germany) IMDb | Wikipedia
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Die DiDi-Show
Writer: )
Director:
Cast: )
A sketch comedy show with Dieter Hallervorden from the late 80s. I haven't seen this one since then. I was watching it, when it originally aired. This brought up some memories
I have bought this DVD set only a few months ago, so naturally it is still in my unwatched pile.
Rating:
(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on April 4th, 2011)