Although “Colombiana,” starring Zoe Saldana, lacks any subtlety, it’s a guilty pleasure for action junkies. Saldana, whose motion-capture performance became Neytiri, the Avataran princess, is in full action mode as she demonstrates her athletic prowess and fighting skills. Cataleya (Saldana), a Colombian orphan, grows up vowing to avenge the death of her parents’ murder. In a surprising effort to develop character, director Olivier Megaton opens with a 20-minute segment that features an effective child actor (Amandia Stenberg) as young Cataleya. While doing her homework at the kitchen table, Marco (Jordi Molla) and his henchmen come for her parents. She wounds Marco with a knife and evades several heavily armed villains to seek asylum at the American Embassy. From there, she travels to Chicago and her uncle, Emilio (Cliff Curtis), who takes her in and teaches her to become a deadly assassin. While working for Emilio, Cataleya also tracks down and kills every gangster associated with Marco, which puts an FBI agent (Lennie James) on her trail.
Megaton tries hard to establish Saldana as a newer, younger, sexier action star, dressing her in tank tops and teeny denim shorts and an impossibly tight catsuit. Saldana also expertly wields a machine gun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. She even escapes from a squad of SWAT commandos while dragging a sniper rifle that looks heavier than she is. And her culminating hand-to-hand battle with Marco looks like something from a Jason Statham movie. For the most part, “Colombiana” is showy and just a bit silly, but it’s fun nonetheless. 8/26/11
1 comment:
Zoe Saldana appears to be the new female action hero with her performance in "Columbiana".
The only problem I have is how can a woman so tiny do that so damage to all those thugs. Ms Saldana is pretty convincing in this role and as the movie progresses we find ourselves rooting for her. The love that she has is very forgetable. Worth seeing.
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