Speaking to TF recently, director Phillip Noyce boiled down the appeal of Salt thus: “How much fun is it to see a beautiful woman demolish 50 guys?” [Spreads arms wide open] “This much!”

Evelyn Salt offers Hollywood’s most successful female action star a new platform to kick ass. And of course, to try and take on the big Bs at the box office: Bond and Bourne.

Sony has made little secret of its hopes this could be the Next Big Spy Franchise. The film offers plenty of compare and contrast moments throughout, starting with the very first seconds.

Evelyn Salt is first and foremost a spy. Gender is a secondary issue. No punches are pulled, literally, in a brutal beginning. You almost expect it to end with 007-type opening credits.

Instead, we get stark, slick, and brief graphics. This isn’t a film with time to kill. From start to finish, there’s rarely anything approaching a quiet moment.

In fact, the film goes out of its way to try and wrong-foot you on everyone’s motives: all the main characters hint at duplicity at one point or another and half the fun is trying to work out who you’re supposed to be rooting for.

By turns vicious and vulnerable, Jolie is in her element as a new action heroine with icon potential. Keeping you guessing and gasping, it passes the litmus test of any new franchise: come the credit roll, you’ll be wanting more Salt.

- Summarised from the Total Film Review

http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/salt-1