Colombiana (2011)
Director:
Olivier Megaton
Writers:
Luc Besson (screenplay), Robert Mark Kamen(screenplay)
Stars:
Zoe Saldana, Michael Vartan, Callum Blue
Refusing to believe what the evidence is telling him, the F.B.I. agent chasing the implacable killer in “Colombiana” snarls: “We’re not looking for a woman. It’s not possible.” Apparently he hasn’t been watching enough Luc Besson movies. The director of this potboiler revenge fantasy may be Olivier Megaton (a great action-director name, even if it is pronounced may-gah-TONE). But the guiding spirit is clearly that of Mr. Besson, a writer and producer of the film, who can claim to have created and continually perfected the lethal-woman-in-her-underwear genre to which “Colombiana” belongs. Mr. Besson’s previous avenging waifs have included Anne Parillaud (in the foundational “Femme Nikita”), a very young Natalie Portman (“The Professional”) and an orange-haired Milla Jovovich (“The Fifth Element”). His latest muse is Zoe Saldana, the blue-skinned heroine of “Avatar,” who proves to be equally adept at the essential skill of wielding large guns while wearing skimpy clothing. (Well, maybe not as adept as Ms. Jovovich, who seems to have been genetically engineered for this kind of thing.) What’s not required is the creation of an actual character; the best an actress can hope for is to look good and, if the director and screenwriter cooperate, maintain her dignity and sense of humor. Ms. Saldana, playing an almost supernaturally skilled hit woman and parkour enthusiast whose larger mission is to avenge the murder of her Colombian drug-dealing parents, has to work hard in that regard. That’s because “Colombiana” isn’t content to be a comic-book joyride (though it is that); it has pretensions to a more turgid class of revenge melodrama, along the lines of Tony Scott’s “Man on Fire.”
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 DVD, ¥67.77 (https://www.zeusdvds.com/colombiana-2011-dvd/))
