Salt

I don't like it when someone copies scenes from my favorite films (Noyce is a terrible routinist) and it literally drives me crazy when I guess what’s going to happen after ten minutes and it comes to fruition (keep Wimmer at least ten miles away from Hollywood). Considering that not much more actually happens in the film, I have to wonder why I gave it a relatively high rating. (27.09.2010)

The script for Salt probably lay somewhere in a dusty drawer of a Hollywood studio for a few decades because not only its theme but also its spirit belongs to the times of the hardest Cold War and is more paranoid than most famous propaganda films of that time. According to its author, NATO and the USA are crawling with super-secret Russian agents in high positions, including the position of the American president. The main protagonist is a product of women's emancipation and the gender movement to such an extent that she not only equals but also easily outperforms James Bond, so it is no problem for her to eliminate the security of both the Russian and American presidents, storm the heavily guarded bunker where the American president is supposed to take shelter in case of a nuclear conflict, and, above all, she takes down dozens of agents of various kinds. The action is not bad, and I consider it considerably of a higher quality and more entertaining than, for example, The Expendables. But in order for me to actually like this film, it would have to stop pretending to be so serious and stylize itself more into the form of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. But everything is taken deadly seriously and for real, which sounds incredibly foolish with such absurd exaggeration. Average action films are more realistic than this, and on top of that, while Angelina Jolie fits perfectly with her appearance to portray glamorous ladies, I would rather tend to believe in Craig as a super assassin. Overall impression: 25%. (10.03.2011)

The premise of Russian spies trained in the X-men style seems dated and naïve and prevents the film from engaging the audience with its realism, which is a key weapon of modern (Bourne-like) espionage thrillers. However, Phillip Noyce does an even better job with action scenes and a fast pace than in Patriot Games, and when you see Angelina Jolie, with or without panties, you won’t really care what it’s all about. (13.08.2010)

The only win of this movie is Angelina Jolie. Once again she is sexy, tough, and subtle. She shines again. It's just...the movie didn't take me any deeper and unfortunately I didn't believe it. In the beginning, Ev is a bit of a bum who has no idea how to act, where to kick and punch. And look! Suddenly he beats the crap out of four gorillas with his bare hands, kills the Russian president, and turns the whole world upside down. I found the script half-baked and copy-pasted. (08.06.2011)

Kurt Wimmer knows no limits because the stuff that takes place in the last half hour would be over the top even for an action thriller parody. Salt tries to be a serious film, mostly without success; the script just doesn’t allow it. But If you switch off your brain, it’s watchable, Angelina is cooler than most and Noyce knows how to work with the camera. In short, decent nonsense that won’t be etched in your memory, but it’s fun to watch once. 6/10 (19.08.2010)