Colombiana





Directed By: Olivier Megaton

Starring: Zoe Saldana, Cliff Curtis, Michael Vartan, Lennie James, Amandla Stenberg, and Jordi Mollá

I generally have low expectations for movies that are released during the month of August.  Hollywood throws a lot of crap at moviegoers at this time.  It's not quite the summer season with big budget blockbusters every week, nor is it the fall season with high-quality films contending for awards.  Colombiana, starring Zoe Saldana, is a pleasant surprise during this traditional rough patch of the year.  While it's a highly predictable vengeance movie, it is nonetheless an enjoyable flick.

In Colombia as a young girl, Cataleya (young- Amandla Stenberg; adult- Zoe Saldana) watches her parents get brutally murdered by Marco (Jordi Mollá) at the orders of Don Luis, a figure in organized crime in that region.  Before his death, Cataleya's father gives her a computer chip with important information that will help officials in the US to bring down the drug operation fueled by Colombia.  Cataleya leverages this chip as a bargaining tool to gain entry to the United States.  There, she seeks out her uncle (Cliff Curtis) who raises her.  She convinces him to train her to be a killer so that she can one day avenge the murders of her parents.  You can guess the rest.

Zoe Saldana has come a long way from her days as Nick Cannon's love interest in Drumline.  She has skyrocketed to stardom over the last decade.  With credits like Star Trek and Avatar to her name, I expected nothing less than an enjoyable flick from her in Colombiana.  She delivers the goods in this revenge movie and proves that she can hold her own in a starring role without any other big names in the cast.

Aside from Zoe's enjoyable performance on screen, another noteworthy aspect of the film is the action.  The action sequences are fast-paced and choppy.  It's a technique that has been most notably usedby Paul Greengrass in The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.  You don't catch every little detail of the fights, but this fuels the intensity of the fight scenes on screen.  You feel the desperation between foes as they leverage any and every object in proximity as a weapon.  This style of filming the action sequences works very well for Oliver Megaton in Colombiana.

As enjoyable as Colombiana is, there are some flaws to the film.  Vengeance films are fairly predictable, but anybody could call this film play by play.  This flick is entirely too predictable.  There was no element of surprise in the film.  Another problem with Colombiana is the lack of time given to Don Luis and Marco.  Most famous for Bad Boys II, Jordi Mollá is certainly someone who can hold his own on screen as a villain.  He's really only there at the beginning and end of the film.  He could have certainly added more flavor to the story and helped take the film to the next level.

Despite its flaws, Colombiana is a fun flick that you'll enjoy from start to finish.  Zoe Saldana's first outing as the sole star of a feature film gets a 0.06% rating.  Bottoms up!