Review of Colombiana (2011) by Matthew D — 09 May 2013

Colombiana is a thrilling revenge film with Zoe Saldana.

After the Bourne Trilogy and Taken, but before John Wick, there was Colombiana. A revenge film with high octane action and plenty of kills, Colombiana was pretty ground breaking at the time. While the hyper speed pace remains, the superfluous jump cuts are quite dated. Colombiana remains a fun action thriller like no other.

Zoe Saldana leads the charge as the highly skilled assassin that is equally sexy and lethal. Colombiana persists as my personal favorite Saldana film. She is cool and clever as this heroine. Saldana made for the perfect action star in Colombiana.

Unfortunately, Oliver Megaton is not a great director, so his style muddles Colombiana overall. The movie is quick paced, but overly simplistic. The performances are believable, but the dialogue from Luc Besson is rather underwritten. The edits are way too frequent ruining otherwise interesting shots. The music is exciting, but feels melodramatic at times. The explosions and gunfights are very cool, but overblown.

Colombiana is still an exhilarating thriller today. It just has its obvious flaws.