When it rains, it pours

There are various styles of action flicks—assorted ingredients with which to explode, chase and defy danger on the screen. Different folks have different tastes in movies, though whatever your personal flavor for action is, the recipe for a good action film could use a lot less Salt.

Evelyn Salt is just about to head home from her job at the CIA when just before stepping out the door, she is called in to debrief a walk-in—a person who possibly has information to offer. Along with her partner Ted, she questions a mysterious Russian informant, who spins a tale and may know a little bit too much about Evelyn herself. With this turn of events, the film kicks into high gear and speeds off into suspense, suspicion and subterfuge.

From this point on Evelyn is on the run, trying to get to her husband, evading her colleagues at the CIA and trying to get to the bottom of a possible Russian conspiracy.

Is Evelyn Salt a Russian spy? Is she who she says she is? Does Salt actually know the whole time?

I would tell you to watch the film and find out for yourself, but in the end, you’re not missing anything. Salt is an action film you have seen time and time before—sometimes good and sometimes bad. This time it fails to succeed. After watching Salt I felt as if an old script for a Bond film was left over from cheesier Bond days, and Sony Pictures dusted it off.

Salt certainly attempts to stand up next to other modern action-spy films such as The Bourne Identity or the more recent, polished Bond films, but fails to meet a level of believability, even for an action flick.

Too many convenient occurrences aid Salt in her run from the law, from the type of handcuffs she may find herself in to the sudden emergence of skills she possesses. There is a bit of a break in her character, as she is set up to be a pencil-pushing analyst-type working for the CIA, but when the shit hits the fan, suddenly she is an ass-kicking, sharp-shooting badass whom no one can take down. At a certain point one wonders why the hell such a super sexy and crafty fighter is working a desk job. The film also lays on the convenient clichés a bit thick. The car is dead, so of course there is a motorcycle parked nearby, which Salt can easily ride and perform tricks on to boot.

Though with all the drawbacks, Salt doesn’t entirely fail. I am well aware that there is certain market out there that just eats up any blockbuster fresh from the factory, and for them this film may just suffice. If you just want a basic action movie, even one you may have seen before, Salt will do the job.

And though the film may suffer a bit, it should not reflect poorly on some of the talent behind it. Angelina Jolie works fairly well as Evelyn Salt. Liev Schreiber as her partner Ted is, of course, a charm. And the overall story, though previously stated as needing some originality in the action department, does include some twists and speculation as to the great mystery of who Evelyn Salt truly is.

Salt may amuse a few, but it’s a safe bet to wait for the cheap theaters or the rental.