THE CRITIC-AL LIST
Reviews by Alan Jones
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

Season Of The Witch
Amer
Tron: Legacy
Machete
Let Me In
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Salt
The Expendables
The Last Airbender
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Inception
Predators
The Twilight Saga:Eclipse
Toy Story 3
Hot Tub Time Machine
Iron Man 2
Repo Men
The Collector
Clash of the Titans
Shelter
How To Train Your Dragon
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Shutter Island
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The Crazies
Case 39
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Legion
The Lovely Bones
Black Death
Daybreakers
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Ninja Assassin
The Descent: Part 2
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The Box
2012
Disney's A Christmas Carol
The Horseman
Solomon Kane
Pandorum
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
District 9
An Education
G.I. Joe: The Rise Of The Cobra
Orphan
A Perfect Getaway
The Imaginarium Of
Doctor Parnassus
Up
Harry Potter
And The Half-Blood Prince
The Taking of Pelham 123
Transformers
The Revenge Of The Fallen
Antichrist
Terminator Salvation
Last House On The Left
Inglorious Basterds
Angels & Demons
Adventureland
Star Trek
Crank: High Voltage
Coraline
Dragonball Evolution
Let The Right One In
Drag Me To Hell
Race to Witch Mountain
Knowing
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Not Quite Hollywood
Lesbian Vampire Killers
Martyrs
The Children
Surveillance
Watchmen
The Unborn
The International
Friday The 13th
Franklyn
Push
Punisher:War Zone
The Good The Bad And
The Weird
Hush
Underworld
The Rise OF The Lycans
My Bloody Valentine
Bolt
Slumdog Millionaire

Directed by Philip Noyce. Starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schrieber, Chiwetel Ejiofor. Action. USA, 100. mins. 12A

Don’t you just love Angelina Jolie in action heroine mode? I certainly do and just when you thought she wouldn’t do anything half as good as WANTED again here’s the Spy Flick to prove that happily isn’t true.

Famously the James Bond style thriller rewritten for the Tomb Raider after Tom Cruise thought Mission: Impossible and dropped out, director Phillip Noyce’s adrenaline fuelled stunt spectacular is a textbook example of superior excitement driven to the gripping max.  With an economically precise running time that couldn’t be less bloated than your average studio blockbuster (pay attention SCOTT PILGRIM!) and wit, invention and pulse-pounding exhilaration always remaining at a premium, this highly satisfying franchise launcher is a brilliant origin story. Accused of being a Russian double agent, CIA officer Evelyn Salt (when you think about it that name still could have worked for Cruise!) goes on the run using all her combat skills and years of experience being tortured behind enemy lines to elude FBI capture. In her effort to prove her innocence as a ‘sleeper spy’ – one placed in a US high position primed to trigger the mythical Day X and begin another world war – she cuts a swathe through a presidential assassination attempt to uncover the real villain at the centre of the plan hatched during Cold War paranoia. Can she halt the annihilation of Mecca?  How much spider venom do you need to paralyze a Russian? Is her TRUE LIES husband safe? Does she have that many pairs of panties to put over CCTV cameras to hide her location? All these questions and more are answered in an intelligent (yes, really SCOTT PILGRIM!), refreshingly old school and winningly unpretentious political thriller. Noyce keeps the popcorn plot snap, crackling and popping with lots of Tom Clancy type welly, daring espionage suspense and a fast pace that will leave you breathless right up to the skydiving finale.

Through it all sultry Jolie looks fashionista fabulous and Sandinista superb. Whether on top of lorries hurtling along freeways, climbing across window-frames above vertigo-inducing drops, infiltrating a security funeral or flying through an elevator shaft, Jolie is magnetic and magnificent. Even though we should all be cutting down these days, more SALT please!
Alan Jones

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