Colombiana - (August 26th, 2011): PG-13
Distributor: TriStar Pictures
Opening Weekend Box-Office: #2 with $10,408,176
Domestic Box-Office Gross to-date: $11,569,483
Gross Revenue: $17,773,545
Production Budget: $40 million
Director: Olivier Megaton
If you stop to think about it, Zoe Saldana is perhaps one of the best actresses in Hollywood who has never really gotten a chance to carry a blockbuster project by herself. She has appeared in a surprisingly large number of successful films, my personal favorites being her roles as immigration agent Dolores Torres in 2004’s The Terminal and Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in 2009’s Star Trek. And anyone questioning her acting ability had to be silenced by her performance as Neytiri in Avatar, which many praised and believed deserved an Academy Award nomination. Finally getting the chance to portray a stand-alone heroine, TriStar went out of their way to portray Zaldana as the next action superstar, showing clips of pulse-pounding action and focusing on the fact that Colombiana was produced by the same decision-makers who made 2008’s Taken a runaway hit. This newest film may not have had the time to build the same amount of buzz as other summer blockbusters, as marketing promotions for Colombiana only surfaced a few weeks prior to release, but with a sexy starlet in the lead-role and plenty of action, many predicted that a very specific male demographic would respond enthusiastically and fill theaters.
As Colombiana opens, the audience is introduced to young Cataleya Restrepo (Amandla Stenberg) as she witnesses her parents being brutally murdered in Bogotá, Colombia on the orders of a local drug kingpin. Swearing revenge, Cataleya escapes from the kingpin’s right-hand man, Marco (Jordi Mollà) and makes her way to Miami, where she is taken in by her uncle, Emilio (Cliff Curtis), who promises to teach her the skills she will need to avenge her parents’ deaths. Fast forward a few years, and the now-adult Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) works as a high-profile and anonymous assassin, marking her victims as a way to send a message to the mobsters she is trying to draw out of hiding. When not moving closer and closer to her objective, Cataleya tries to pursue a casual relationship with local artist, Danny (Michael Vartan), though she is less-than-honest about how she makes a living. Though she is constantly warned by Emilio to be more careful, Cataleya’s professional and personal lives start to merge as the authorities zero-in on her identity, but she must maintain her resolve to find and punish those who took away her family.
Channeling undeniable brutality and near-psychotic obsession, Zoe Saldana is easily the best part of Colombiana, mercilessly dispatching her enemies but still reminding the audience of the pain she feels at the loss of her family. Other notable performances include Amandla Stenberg as the blunt and vengeful young Cataleya, who entertains the audience during the slightly drawn-out opening, and Cliff Curtis as Cataleya’s sarcastic and empathic uncle, who injects some much-needed humor and humanity in the life of his niece. Strong performances aside, Colombiana also offers a number of truly entertaining action sequences, the most notable being Cataleya’s first assassination, during which she breaks into a police station and shoots a prisoner. This scene and a number of others are sure to have action-junkies giggling in delight over gratuitous explosions and awesome weapons that echo significant energy and creativity. Unfortunately, in spite of these commendable elements, Colombiana suffers most from a weak and undeniably predictable narrative.
Promotions for Colombiana promised an engaging action film filled with revenge in the same vein as Taken, but the story is decidedly uneven, significantly weakening the film’s overall quality. As a character, Cataleya is supposed to be a sexy and independent hero relentlessly focused on revenge, but while Saldana definitely channels the sexy, an unnecessary romantic subplot completely halts the film’s momentum and turns the hardcore heroine into a slightly incompetent and overly-dependent loner. Something else about Colombiana that is undeniably disappointing involves the fact that, for every awesome and engaging scene, there are about three that are shamefully idiotic and absurdly predictable. I understand that there are times you may have to stretch believability in order to advance a story, but this film gives its audience almost no credit for being able to follow the sequence of events, and the end result produces ridiculous and formulaic plot elements. I understand that I see more movies than the average moviegoer, but even I shouldn’t be able to see a “twist” coming from a mile away and map out the exact order of events that will play out on the screen. If Colombiana were to make some tweaks and match the energy and creativity of its few enjoyable scenes, this action film would a surprising and well-revered entry in the genre…better luck next time.
Second place in the opening weekend isn’t something that a summer action film likes to see, but considering that this is Zoe Saldana’s first standalone entry, Colombiana has had a much stronger performance than a number of other recent offerings. With a combined domestic and foreign total of over $17 million, Colombiana is slowly chipping away at its modest production budget, but given its inherent appeal to the lucrative male 18-25 demographic, it isn’t necessarily set-in-stone that the film will end up losing money. At the very least, though critics aren’t in love with this newest action flick, it should prove that Zoe Saldana can handle the top billing that she has been denied for some time. Thoroughly entertaining at points, I only wish that Colombiana had been of a more consistent quality, as someone of Saldana’s talent deserved a far better story to work with than what she was ultimately given. So, even if you are a fan of Saldana, I’d wait for Netflix or Redbox before running to the theater.
Overall Recommendation: Low
