I was at the Leicester Square premiere of 'Salt' starring angelina Jolie yesterday. I went with my friend Ryan. The first thing that I noticed when I arrived at the red carpet was that it wasn't Red. It was Black. I can't profess to know Angelina, but from what I understand about her (in a good way of course ;) it made sense.

I didn't have time to get dressed up all fancy, so when we walked on the carpet I wasn't suprised to hear some London youths say, "Look at that guy acting all casual! He's strolling in as if he's just come from work!". Those young men did not know how right they were! I turned round to them and smiled. Suddenly I heard my name being called! I could not believe my ears, it was too close to be in the crowd! I recognised the voice, but had to be sure. I turned round slowly to see my ex girlfriend, Charlie stabding there smiling. We were together some years back and although we were still friends I hadn't seen her for a quite some time. She was dressed to the nines in a beautiful black number. Ryan left us and carried on walking to the theatre, no doubt thinking three was a crowd. We had a lovely catchup although it was brief. It turned out she was involved in the company organising the event. The nature of the event did not permit us to talk for long, so we said our goodbyes and I continued to walk down the Black. I flipped out my phone camera to grab some footage of what was going on, and as I did the crowd started to go crazy. I was walking past Angelina at the time who was talking to the press. She turned around, saw me, I waved and she waved. Yes, I got a wave from Jolie. You can see the video below. It all happens kinda fast so I've added a frame grab.











I'm not really into the whole idolizing movie stars thing, but I've gotta say it it did feel kinda nice. I do a lot of digital work so I understand that seeing isn't always believing, but she is actually a lot more beautiful than I thought. Here's to hoping that I can actually talk to her next time I'm so close.

I caught up with Ryan and we found our seats. Here's a vid of us chatting nonsense:


Jolie then made her entrance to introduce the movie:


Okay, so what about the film? I must confess from the off, I didn't think the film was amazing. However that being said, Jolie was committed to the character all the way, which was the production's saving grace. The plot, which sees Jolie accused of being a double agent who has been groomed since infancy to destroy the US was a little far fetched. But upon second thought aren't most plots! The film boasts an impressive cast, with the likes of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Liev Schreiber supporting. Their performances however are far from their best. If only the direction was stronger. I actually think that if the film was approached with a more serious tone and done in a more believeable manner, like the Bourne trilogy for example, Hollywood might actually of been onto something. Instead they defaulted to the the thrill-a-minute plus a few quirks blockbuster formula, which although entertaining is ultimately insulting to the intelligence of the movie-goer. The story tries to keep you guessing, but is ill-paced for the most part and consequently predictable. The action however is a different story. There is a lot of action. Jolie gives as good as she gets, and she gets to beat down on a whole lot of men. The question whether this is metaphorical I'll leave for another time ;). The scenes can get intense, the last fight scene is paticularly visceral, but this is balanced by a few light hearted action sequences sprinkled throughout. The cinematography is pure Hollywood in-house and the photography suffers from a lack of variety in locales.

Ultimately a popcorn film. Not the kind of film that will leave you desperately wanting more, but a film that will most likely spawn a sequel non the less.

-N-