Whereas I can usually claim that I’ve tracked a summer movie for months prior to its release, I confess that Colombiana caught me by surprise, only showing up on my radar a few weeks before it hit theaters. True female action heroes like Angelina Jolie and Mila Jovovich are few and far in-between, but TriStar seemed to be going out of its way to position Zoe Zaldana as the next in line. Produced by Luc Besson, known for adding a distinct style to action super-hits like The Transporter and Taken, it seemed like Colombiana had all the makings of a modest and underestimated blockbuster. As the last true action film of the 2011 Summer Movie Season, trailers and promotions for Colombiana promised an adventure with an undeniably sexy woman taking no prisoners using big weapons and brutal tactics…it was an absolute no-brainer rushing to the theater during opening weekend.
I’m a pretty big fan of Zoe Zaldana’s work, so I had pretty high expectations for Columbiana, but while she did a great job as the “action hero,” the rest of the film was mediocre at best. To be fair, Colombiana does have a number of awesome and truly creative scenes, but by-and-large, the film resorts to thoroughly unlikely plot elements to advance a shaky story. The film is also shamefully predictable…it’s one thing to have a general idea concerning what direction the story will go, it’s quite another to be able to lay out, scene-for-scene, what is going to occur, minutes before it actually happens. Some of the stronger performances on the part of the cast were also cut short in favor of an almost obligatory and unmotivated romantic sub-plot, the most notable instance involving Cliff Curtis as Zoe’s no-nonsense uncle. If, in its entirety, Colombiana’s quality matched that of a few key scenes, it could have gone down as a new action film classic, but as it stands, the film will remain in the shadow of far superior offerings and is nothing that you absolutely have to see immediately.
For more information, please read the full review.
Overall Recommendation: Low
