Film Review: COLOMBIANA (2011)

Director: Olivier Megaton
Writers (screenplay): Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Running Time: 104 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Action/Thriller/Drama
UK Release Date: 9^th September 2011

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 18^th August 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I must admit I do enjoy a decent revenge thriller; there have been many over the years, everything from ‘Death Wish’ to the ‘Jason Bourne’ films. The trouble is, there are only so many ways you can tell the story; have the makers of ‘Colombiana’ found yet another twist? Well I’ll tell you after this very brief summary.

When the parents of ten year old Cataleya are killed in front of her in Bogota, Colombia, she swears revenge on the leader of the gang responsible, Don Luis Sandoval and his lieutenant, Marco. Her father had given her a way to get to America and the means to find her uncle Fabio. He gives her an education and trains her in the art of assassination. Fifteen years later, Cataleya is a seasoned killer who always leaves a calling card on her victims. This attracts the attention of the F.B.I. in the guise of Special Agent James Ross. He decides to publicise her calling card and, in turn this alerts her parents’ killers to her existence. All is set for a dramatic showdown when it is revealed that the bad guys are ‘guests’ of the C.I.A. in New Orleans. I will leave it there or the Spoiler Police (F.B.I. Division) will be tapping my phone (again).

Well made with some nice set pieces and fight scenes; hats off to the stunt guys and effects gurus. All the performances were very good; particularly Zoe Saldana as Cataleya, Lennie James as Special Agent James Ross and Amandla Stenberg as Cataleya age ten. Honourable mentions go to; Jordi Mollà as Marco, Michael Vartan as Danny Delanay, Jesse Borrego as Fabio Restrepo and Callum Blue as Richard.

There are only so many ways to tell a story of revenge and, I’m afraid, this one doesn’t do anything particularly groundbreaking. I liked the fact that they took time to give an account of Cataleya’s back-story, but they failed to show us any of her training. One minute she’s a ten year old going to school, the next she’s killing a bad guy in a police cell. A love interest is brought into the story in the guise of an artist, Richard, with whom who she the occasional tryst. But you know nothing can ever become of it because of the path she’s chosen. Over all; although quite well made; I did find it lacked in too many areas. The pacing was all over the place and I didn’t find many of the characters very convincing. There are some nice set-pieces and fight scenes though but it’s not one that will stay long in the memory.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED (just).

My Score 5.6/10

IMDb Score: 6.2/10 (based on 37,607 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1657507/

MetaScore: 45/100: (Based on 22 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 27/100 (based on 89 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 53/100 ‘Liked It’ (based on 31,781 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/colombiana/

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FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Cat - 10: I want to be a killer. Can you help me?
Emilio Restrepo: Sure.

William Woodgard: Baby, you put one drop of blood in there, and they'll be your biggest admirers.
Nymphette: Really?
William Woodgard: Oh, yeah, baby. All the way down to your clean stripped bones.

Emilio Restrepo: Never forget where you came from.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/colombiana/
Trailer: