Rent Salt and Fire (2016)

Oh dear... - Salt and Fire review by TE

Being a Werner Herzog fan I wanted to like this film, but it really is irredeemably awful.

Apart from some occasional stunning scenic shots there is nothing to recommend here.

The script is full of laboured philosophising that would not look out of place in a corny Facebook gif. There is no consistency in the narrative and no comprehensible background to the clumsy environmental 'message'.

It's as if Herzog wasn't sure whether to make a human interest story or a fully fledged allegory. The film ends up somewhere in between...and not in a good way.

what were you thinking Werner? - Salt and Fire review by MM

Oh dear what a shambles.

The plot is irredeemably odd - American CEO kidnaps UN delegation (straight off international flight from Europe?), holds them hostage and then takes them to the place where they were going anyway?

The dialogue is clunky, wooden and atrocious. It's full of 2nd rate philosophising and there's shades of white man gone crazy in wild a la Heart of Darkness.

The casting is just bizarre. What is respected astrophysicist Lawrence Krauss doing here? Acting badly that's what. Sometimes in a wheelchair sometimes not, sometimes brandishing a machine gun unconvincingly.

I could go on, but let's just hope this turkey gathers dust on the shelf.

Hmm, plot makes no sense, but it does look gorgeous - Salt and Fire review by JD

A UN delegation is kidnapped and one of them is taken to the place she was going to anyway. In many ways this is a typical Herzog film with odd philosophising, random aphorisms and fabulous landscape shots. It's worth watching for those alone and the steam engine graveyard, amazing. What doesn't redeem it is the woeful acting and deliberate ignorance of practical matters such as the Samsung tablet that never needs charged, I want one of those!

It is a vague science fiction morality tale but the science is lazy and makes no sense. Another Werner Herzog film ticked off. Pity he didn't put himself in it.