Here’s a quick question: name a successful, female-driven action film franchise from the past two decades that lasted more than two movies.

You can probably count them all on one hand.

Sure, TV land has plenty of the gutsy, weapon-wielding lovelies to its credit. But for every Buffy The Vampire Slayer on TV, there’s an Elektra in movieworld. For every Ripley, there’s a Lara Croft.

So when a new film comes out with former Lara Angelina Jolie in the lead as – you got it – a gutsy, weapon-wielding lovely, we’re a bit excited. Watch the trailer, and we raise that excited to teeth-chompingly expectant.

But can the former Lara, having toted guns in other action flicks Wanted and Mr & Mrs Smith, recover from Ms Croft’s slated cinematic scrambles?

Like Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley in Alien, the character of CIA Agent Evelyn Salt was originally written for a man (yeah, we’ll get to that later). And look how well Alien panned out. The question is: Can Jolie emulate Weaver’s success with – whisper it – a female Bourne?

Let’s take a look in the Salt vaults for clues to how this one’s going to pan out...

Next: Edwin A Salt