On the surface, Salt seems like an uncoordinated, adrenaline-focused, derivative, phone-in effort from Howard that would merit only two stars as a separate listening experience. For those who have no interest in hearing an adaptation of Powell's standard chasing mechanisms, it could stay there and be classified as a disappointment. But Howard, thankfully, offers just enough variation in Salt to give it the character of a decent, three-star piece of action fluff. Dominating melodic development was clearly not the primary intent of the composer, his ideas often vague and usually exploring tangents in individual cues without much to tie them together. As such, Salt is the type of score that features a handful of highlights of various unconnected ideas that could likely yield ten to fifteen minutes of solid material for any Howard collection. A unique female vocal and cimbalom early in "Orlov's Story" suggests the only overtly Russian tone. The explosive "Chase Across DC" is a very strong cue that takes Powell's chase norms and bloats them to larger symphonic accompaniment (including the score's primary theme), just a step or two short of David Arnold's Bond music. Distractingly closing with bagpipe source is "Hotel Room Preparations/Parade." The most insufferable cue is "Taser Puppet," with an extremely obnoxious electric guitar, bass, and percussion mix that functions better than a five energy drinks combined. The duo of "You Are My Greatest Creation" and "Destiny" are tonal high points of Salt, infusing Russian-style chorus into their impressively melodramatic ranks. The choral usage becomes lighter and choppier in "Barge Apocalypse" and "Go Get Em" (more on that later). In "Not Safe With Me" and "Garroted," the former exploring another simple melody, Howard coincidentally pulls some structure, keyboarding, and tingling percussion rhythms from Klaus Badelt's Catwoman. The thematically obtuse score concludes by finally developing its main identity in "Go Get Em," a determined guitar rhythm and minor-third ostinato as cool and sophisticated as you'd expect for the concept. Unfortunately, the remainder of the cues are relatively non-descript, packing an excessive amount of techno-thriller ambience into generic cues. There has been significant discontent with the album release of Salt, limited to download-only and CDr availability and reportedly leaving out the film version of the choral mix in several cues. The latter problem is particularly irksome for Howard collectors after The Last Airbender; labels apparently now seem content to respond to challenging economic times by omitting or using sampled variations of choral accompaniment on albums in order to save money in reuse fees. No matter your views on this bootleg-inducing issue, Salt is a functional but not spectacular score with a few notable highlights.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download