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Tale of revenge makes for wild ride
By Christy Lemire |
September 4, 2011, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A brawny B-action picture with a gorgeous, graceful woman wreaking havoc: Yup, "Colombiana" is a Luc Besson movie.
The director of "La Femme Nikita" and "The Fifth Element" serves as co-writer and producer here, but this is very much a spin-off of his brand, a continuation of the kind of stereotype- and gravity-defying characters he's made his name on. "Colombiana" feels more hammy and muscular, but knowingly so, and that's what makes it solid, late-summer escapist fun.
Zoe Saldana stars as Cataleya, who saw her parents get killed when she was just a nine-year-old schoolgirl living in the slums of Bogota. Played as a child by the intense Amandla Stenberg in her film debut, she escapes by performing a dizzying series of parkour moves across rooftops and through windows before making her way to the US Embassy to vomit up the microchip her father entrusted with her. Indeed, the film, directed by Olivier Megaton ("Transporter 3"), is never subtle.
Fifteen years later, with the help of her Uncle Emilio (Cliff Curtis), Cataleya has become a highly efficient professional assassin, but she still seeks revenge against the drug kingpin (Beto Benites) and his right-hand man (Jordi Molla) who are responsible for her parents' deaths. The mark she leaves on her victims' bodies - a drawing of the orchid she's named for - is a message for her childhood enemies but it also sparks the curiosity of an FBI agent who thinks he's tracking a serial killer. (Lennie James serves as the film's lone source of dignity and calm in the role.)
Over-the-top bad guys spew generically menacing lines and hot women parade around in bikinis and lingerie. The catlike Saldana herself kicks butt in little more than tank tops and short-shorts. Her character also likes to suck lollipops while she's cleaning out her guns; again, not so subtle.
The action, meanwhile, is preposterous, but that's what you pay to see. Cataleya seems capable of arming or disarming any device, adept at crawling through or climbing over any obstacle in her path without ever smudging her sexy eyeliner.
Saldana also earns our sympathy, as the script allows her to convey a surprising amount of emotion and inner conflict.
For the most part though, it's all big and silly, but at least it's enjoyably staged.
The director of "La Femme Nikita" and "The Fifth Element" serves as co-writer and producer here, but this is very much a spin-off of his brand, a continuation of the kind of stereotype- and gravity-defying characters he's made his name on. "Colombiana" feels more hammy and muscular, but knowingly so, and that's what makes it solid, late-summer escapist fun.
Zoe Saldana stars as Cataleya, who saw her parents get killed when she was just a nine-year-old schoolgirl living in the slums of Bogota. Played as a child by the intense Amandla Stenberg in her film debut, she escapes by performing a dizzying series of parkour moves across rooftops and through windows before making her way to the US Embassy to vomit up the microchip her father entrusted with her. Indeed, the film, directed by Olivier Megaton ("Transporter 3"), is never subtle.
Fifteen years later, with the help of her Uncle Emilio (Cliff Curtis), Cataleya has become a highly efficient professional assassin, but she still seeks revenge against the drug kingpin (Beto Benites) and his right-hand man (Jordi Molla) who are responsible for her parents' deaths. The mark she leaves on her victims' bodies - a drawing of the orchid she's named for - is a message for her childhood enemies but it also sparks the curiosity of an FBI agent who thinks he's tracking a serial killer. (Lennie James serves as the film's lone source of dignity and calm in the role.)
Over-the-top bad guys spew generically menacing lines and hot women parade around in bikinis and lingerie. The catlike Saldana herself kicks butt in little more than tank tops and short-shorts. Her character also likes to suck lollipops while she's cleaning out her guns; again, not so subtle.
The action, meanwhile, is preposterous, but that's what you pay to see. Cataleya seems capable of arming or disarming any device, adept at crawling through or climbing over any obstacle in her path without ever smudging her sexy eyeliner.
Saldana also earns our sympathy, as the script allows her to convey a surprising amount of emotion and inner conflict.
For the most part though, it's all big and silly, but at least it's enjoyably staged.
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