The Fugitive

Rating: Null/10 (18 May 2011)

"Salt" adheres to the "running man" formula ("The Fugitive", "Chain Reaction", "The Incredible Hulk", "Minority Report", "The Bourne Identity", "Enemy of the State", "The Sentinel", "The Bourne Identity", "Eraser", "US Marshals" etc), which Hitchcock refined in such films as "Saboteur", "Foreign Correspondent", "The 39 Steps" and "North By Northwest". In each case the film's hero is on the run, falsely accused of a crime which he or she must solve whilst being pursued. The entire "running man" plot is itself a MacGuffin, our hero jumping from set piece to set piece as he or she attempts to piece together his puzzle.
The good thing about this formula is that you don't need expensive set pieces or elaborate stories. The plot itself generates tension; the actors need only ride the wave. Amusingly, almost all of these films find a way of fitting in a scene in which the good guys and bad guys face off through a (usually bullet proof) glass wall or door. As the genre revolves around heroes in flight from pursuers, the only way to get the two dramatically together and not have the film end is to slip a piece of glass in between them.
The film's plot is inconsequential – dated Cold War nonsense, in which actress Angelina Jolie saves the world from nuclear annihilation – but that doesn't matter. It's all about movement, speed and the thrill of pursuit. The film was directed by Phillip Noyce, who made two better espionage pictures with "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger".
7.9/10 – worth one viewing.