Review of Colombiana (2011) by Tyler W — 30 Apr 2012

I remember when I first heard about "Colombiana", I was like, "Zoe Saldana kicking ass in a movie written and produced by Luc Besson? I'm already sold". So for those of you who don't know, Luc Besson is the guy who brought us "Taken", "The Transporter" trilogy, "Leon: The Professional" and "Nikita". So this guy has a pretty damn good resume. So there's no reason to not trust him. And this is a film I'm going to add to his list of awesomeness.

So "Colombiana" is the story of Catelaya, a girl whose parents were murdered in front of her when she was nine years old. 15 years have passed, she's become a master assassin, and now she's on a quest of revenge to kill the gangster who ordered the hit on her parents. Everyone says this and I have to point it out too; Luc Besson basically ripped off his own creation (Nikita), but it on a new hot actress, and now we have our movie. But I have to say, I don't mind him doing this one little bit. Why? Because it's his own thing he's ripping off, and the new chick playing said role is really hot.

Zoe Saldana plays Cataleya. Most people these days will know her either as Lieutenant Uhura in J.J. Abram's 2009 reboot of "Star Trek", or as Neytiri in "Avatar". This girl is one of my favorite new actresses in Hollywood, and it's nice to finally see her kick some ass. Cataleya is a precise and calculating killing machine. When she's got a weapon, you're just screwed.

The action in "Colombiana" is great. The very first action scene happens within 10 minutes. Nine year old Cataleya is being chased by Columbian gangsters and you're just thinking "Does everyone in Columbia practise free-running and parkour"? And when you throw free-running and parkour into an action flick, you get my seal of approval. Then the final action scene is just a pure bullet-fest. There is nothing more enjoyable then seeing a beautiful mansion be destroyed by grenades and mountains of bullets.

So overall, I enjoyed "Columbiana". It's a good action film, and anyone who liked "Taken" should enjoy this. It might not be Luc Besson's best action film, but I think it's a new one of his underrated classics, and I'll definitely buy this.