Colombiana

Olivier Megaton

Overview

As a young girl, Cataleya Restrepo saw her parents killed in cold blood. Years later, Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) has become a cold-blooded assassin. Now Cataleya is on a mission of revenge, and she won't stop until every last one of her enemies is dead. Callum Blue) and Cliff Curtis co-star in this action thriller from director Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3) and writers Luc Besson (The Professional) and Robert Mark Kamen (Taken).

Product Details

Release Date:	12/20/2011
UPC:	0043396389434
Original Release:	2011
Rating:	NR
Source:	Sony Pictures
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:51:00
Sales rank:	12,612

Special Features

Columbiana: The Making Of; Cataleya's Journey

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Zoe Saldana	Cataleya
Jordi Mollà	Marco
Lennie James	Ross
Michael Vartan	Danny Delanay
Cliff Curtis	Emilio Restrepo
Beto Benites	Don Luis
Jesse Borrego	Fabio
Cynthia Addai-Robinson	Alicia
Angel Garnica	Pepe
Ofelia Medina	Mama
Callum Blue	Richard
Graham McTavish	Head Marshall Warren
Amandla Stenberg	Cat, Age 10
Charles Maquignon	Sergeant Bill Attwood
Ben Badra	Genarro Rizzo
David Clarke	Marshall
Nikea Gamby-Turner	Shari
Andrea Helene	Principal
Sébastien Peres	SWAT
Mark De Alessandro	SWAT
Pablo Vinos Zelaya	SWAT
Max Martini	Agent Robert Williams
Tony Dalton	American Embassy 1
Julián Sedgwick	American Embassy 2
Julien Muller	Doyle
Guillermo Ríos	Emilio's Man
Luis Toscano	Fabio's Man
Javier Escobar	Marco's Gun Man
Michael Showers	Cop
Wesley John Cannon	Cop
Doug Rao	Michel Shino
Reem Kherici	Nymphette
Julie Nicolet	Nymphette
Stephan Orsolani	Guy
Steve Herson	Ticket Agent
Richard Zeringue	Bureaucrat
Stephan Brodziak	Tech FBI
William Raymond	FBI Operator
Alfredo Gonzáles	Old Man
Alejandro Perrazza	Head Bodyguard
Donald Marshall	William's Servant
Mylene Pilutik	CIA Girl
Silas Cooper	Customs Officer
Ariane Brodie	Alexa
Donagh Gordon	FBI Mailman
Benoit Lavelatte	Thug
John Papsidera	Actor
Meagan Lewis	Actor
Nicolas Ronchi	Actor
Luc Besson	Actor
Robert Mark Kamen	Actor
Nathaniel Méchaly	Composer
Craig Walker	Composer
Jordi Molla	Actor

Technical Credits

Luc Besson

Robert Mark Kamen

Olivier Megaton	Director
Jesse Borrego	Director
Michael Vartan	Director
Callum Blue	Director
Lennie James	Director
Zoe Saldana	Director
Luc Besson	Producer,Screenwriter
Ariel Zeïtoun	Producer,Executive Producer
Olivier Glaas	Producer
Sandrine Molto	Producer
Robert Mark Kamen	Screenwriter
Nicolas Berger	Sound Effects
Ariel Zeitoun	Producer

Editorial Reviews

If you know Luc Besson, you probably shouldn't be too surprised by Colombiana. After all, the overwhelmingly okay film follows the general pattern laid out by many of his other films, wherein 1) an innocent hero is driven to violence by violence, 2) nearly everyone who is close to the hero is killed, 3) the villain always has an evil henchman, and 4) a chase scene with free-running in it is featured. Sure, that very well might be simplifying the picture and the celebrated French mogul's approach to storytelling, yet Colombiana fits the mold. For the most part, the movie is a serviceable assassin thriller, with the dynamic Zoe Saldana showing off her figure as she outsmarts the good and bad guys hot on her heels when she's not slinking around in panties or shooting enormous guns. Story-wise, there's one monkey wrench of wonky motivation at play, but thankfully the production is pulled off with the right amount of French/Hollywood gloss so that it's very easy to just sit back and accept it for the slightly dramatic action piece that it is. Saldana plays Cataleya, who at a young age became the lone surviving family member of a Colombian crook after he two-timed his boss, Don Luis (Beto Benites). When the American government helps her escape the country, Cataleya is taken in by a family friend, Emilio (played by Cliff Curtis), who trains her to be a killer in the city of Chicago. Years later, the murderous orphan gets the word out to Luis that she is coming for him by drawing an orchid on the body of each perp that Emilio assigns her to kill, thus triggering the FBI and the agent in charge (Lennie James) to hunt her down. Even just reading that synopsis, it's evident that Catalya's plan is so wrong-headed that it's hard to believe she didn't think that things would backfire on her adoptive family. Well, all right, it's just a movie, but still... that just seems lazy -- as does writer/producer Besson rehashing scenes from both La Femme Nikita and Léon (almost blatantly so), which to director Olivier Megaton's credit, is pulled off with relative restraint considering that his last film was the overly chaotic Transporter 3. The helmer does make the dumb move of cutting frame rates in the finale's hand-to-hand action scenes, which is unfortunate since that style is nowhere to be seen up until that point. Some praise should go to Cliff Curtis, who grounds the film with enough emotion to make his connection with Catalya work (basically the only relationship that is anywhere near believable -- the less said about the random white guy love interest, the better). As a movie, Colombiana could absolutely be worse, but it also could be a whole lot better. This is made-to-order middle-of-the-road fare for theatrical tourists in need of an afternoon fix -- and not much more.