Colombiana

    Vengeance is beautiful and so is Zoe Saldana in this adrenaline pumped action film from the producers of La Femme Nikita. In Colombiana, Saldana plays Cataleya, a woman who becomes an assassin for hire after her parents were murdered when she was a child. Saldana is sleek, slender, and stunning as this Chicago raised woman with a mission. Sneaking into drug compounds, assassinating affluent criminals, and being ruthless comes easy to Saldana in what must be her most physically demanding role of her career. Unfortunately for Saldana, the script and screenplay do very little for the rest of the movie.
    As many may have seen in the trailer, Cataleya sorrowfully proclaims that when she was nine years old her parents were murdered in front of her. Upon watching the first 20 min of the movie, this statement is proven to false. Contrary to her statement later in the movie, the young Cataleya only heard her parent being murdered. A simple mistake like this should have been noticed by someone before the theatrical release. Outside of this slightly grievous error, Colombiana's other down-fall is the slightly repetitive action sequences. In defense of this, I believe that a virtually self-taught assassin hell-bent on revenge would have a very specific method of operation (otherwise referred to as an M.O.). For Cataleya, that would be slinking through ventilation shafts, and finding the vulnerabilities in floor plans which are typically on public record. Lastly, I feel that the sound editing team for Colombiana has a lot to repent for. During the film, moments where a gun shot or car accident should have been an extremely loud or jarring sound are slightly muffled. It is as if we were being shielded from critical noises with sound absorbent pillows over our ears or the microphones themselves. Let me tell you...it's annoying. When I see guns being fired at point blank or a car crash on screen, I would like the sound effects to match what I'm seeing.
    Beyond the aforementioned production issues, Colombiana is still an extremely fun movie to watch. I'm happy to Zoe Saldana growing as an actress with screen presence and versatility. I have personal weakness for films that feature strong female roles, so naturally I found this movie thrilling. Action films are action films, they are not geared to win Academy Awards or Critic's Choice nominations. They are meant to entertain, and in that Colombiana succeeds.

Rating: 2.5 (Maximum of 5)