Colombiana

Movie Name: Colombiana

Year of Release: 2011

Director: Olivier Megaton

Stars: Zoe Saldana, Michael Vartan, Cliff Curtis, Jordi Molla, Callum Blue, Lennie James, Max Martini, Amandla Stenberg, Monica Acosta, Graham McTavish, Jesse Borrego

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller, Drama

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4

Synopsis:

Luc Besson has steadily become one of the busiest producers working in film. The films with his imprint no longer are limited to his directorial efforts, who are now far and between, but his writing and producing skills have been used in a stream of films, from the "Transporter" series to others such as "Taken" and even "I Love You Philip Morris". Olivier Megaton, director of "Colombiana" has collaborated with Luc Besson on "Transporter 3" - the style is very similar. The quick pacing of the narrative, dynamic editing, all coming from the style of Tony Scott.
The film follows the story of Cataleya and her family. Cataleya lives in Colombia and witnesses her parents being shot as a little girl and promises revenge. Growing up in the US, Cataleya becomes a lethal assassin, discrete and able to be almost invisible. She has almost no ties of any kind, save for a man she starts having a relationship with and her remaining family, who also gets shot by the same people who destroyed her life in Colombia. Cataleya decides to revenge her loved ones and stops at nothing to do so.
"Colombiana" has a mix of different films and different styles. It's equal parts "Nikita", "The Bourne Identity" and "The Professional". Olivier Megaton doesn't care much about character development or getting to explore the dynamics of the characters - most of the characters are thin as paper, and obviously cliches, save for Cataleya who we are given a brief glimpse of where she's coming and why she's so focused on her targets. But even her story is a backdrop for action scenes that showcase her lethal and precise capabilities as a killer. It's a film that has a B-style to it, and that manages to achieve some of it's goals as an entertaining one, but it's not enough to create a good and memorable experience.