“You must expect the unexpected -- she’s like mist under a door.” --Marco (Jordi Mollà), about Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) “Bastard thinks I’m an idiot, playing it all mellow and shit. If he would have yelled and screamed and threatened to kill my whole family it would have been better.” --hitman Fabio (Jesse Borrego), complaining about the tone of his exit interview with boss Don Luis (Beto Benites) Colombiana, screenwriters: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen...
- 9/19/2011
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
In the genre of revenge thrillers, neither the French nor the South Americans are slouches. For decades, both cultures have produced countless bloody bonanzas that have been tinted yellow, untethered by conventional decency and piled upon with empty bullet casings. So what happens when two Frenchmen — uber producer Luc Besson and appropriately named action director Olivier Megaton — make a film about a South American killer hell bent on revenge starring Zoe Saldana, one of the most effortlessly sexy people on the planet? Somehow it all goes terrible wrong. It has the tint, the bullet casings and the motive, but Colombiana doesn’t feel so free — it conforms to a PG-13 world, which sort of takes the fun out of the whole experience. The story revolves around Cataleya (Amandla Stenberg), a horticulturaly named, dead-eyed little girl who watches her Colombian mobster parents get mowed down in a hail of gunfire by Marco (Jordi Molla), the top henchman of...
- 8/26/2011
- by Neil Miller
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Zoe Saldana stars in the action-filled revenge flick, Colombiana. But can her star presence make up for a formulaic plot? Here’s Ron’s review...
While still a small child, Cataleya Restrepo (Zoe Saldana) witnesses a gang of brutal thugs murder her parents over a particularly valuable piece of information. When they don't find it, they turn to Cataleya, who parkours away through the slums of Bogota, Colombia, high-tails it to the American embassy, and promptly turns over the information.
Doing so gets her safely out of her cocaine-addled homeland, and onto the slightly less cocaine-addled streets of Chicago, Illinois. Little Cataleya doesn't want to go to school, or buy pretty dresses, or even do more parkour. She wants revenge on the men who killed her parents.
Fast forward a dozen or so years, to Cataleya being raised by her loving uncle and assassination tutor Emilio (Cliff Curtis). Meanwhile, Don...
While still a small child, Cataleya Restrepo (Zoe Saldana) witnesses a gang of brutal thugs murder her parents over a particularly valuable piece of information. When they don't find it, they turn to Cataleya, who parkours away through the slums of Bogota, Colombia, high-tails it to the American embassy, and promptly turns over the information.
Doing so gets her safely out of her cocaine-addled homeland, and onto the slightly less cocaine-addled streets of Chicago, Illinois. Little Cataleya doesn't want to go to school, or buy pretty dresses, or even do more parkour. She wants revenge on the men who killed her parents.
Fast forward a dozen or so years, to Cataleya being raised by her loving uncle and assassination tutor Emilio (Cliff Curtis). Meanwhile, Don...
- 8/26/2011
- Den of Geek
When it comes to an action flick scribed by the prolific Luc Besson, one shouldn’t be surprised to see a badass heroine using a toothbrush and towel as her weapons of choice during a fight. This is the type of hyper-real, action packed, quick-cut orchestra of smacks and grunts we’ve come to welcome at the multiplex. And while Besson’s disciples have gone on to claim some fame for themselves beyond the looming shadow of their cinematic father—Louis Leterrier with The Incredible Hulk and Pierre Morel with Taken—it is the man with the best name in the business who is still cutting his teeth on the fun scripts. Olivier Megaton may not have crafted the success to warrant the notoriety of the duo before him, but he knows how to keep an audience entertained.
With Colombiana, you get what you expect from Besson’s menagerie of laconic killers.
With Colombiana, you get what you expect from Besson’s menagerie of laconic killers.
- 8/26/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
[Our thanks to Simon Kingsley for the following review. Which does, it should be said, contain a decent number of plot points. Don't read if you don't want to know.]Remember, you read it here first! A star is born! Amandla Stenberg steals the entire film, which isn't bad considering she's only ten years old and is onscreen for only the opening fifteen minutes or so.She plays the lead, Cataleya, who, as a nine-year-old, witnesses her parents' murders by Marco (Jordi Mollà), evil henchman of evil drug lord Don Luis (Beto Benites). But mom and pop had it coming anyway, because every Colombian in this film is a drug dealer and / or killer and / or gangster of some kind.Not only does Amandla display...
- 8/5/2011
- Screen Anarchy
Music Box Films has picked up U.S. rights to "Hermano," a Venezuelan sports and crime drama. Distributor plans to release Venezuela's foreign-language Oscar hopeful in late spring. The film, helmed by Marcel Rasquin, focuses on two young men who are raised as brothers in a Caracas slum and must overcome the violent law of the streets in order to become professional soccer players. Starring are Eliú Armas, Beto Benites, Gonzalo Cubero, Marcela Girón, Fernando Moreno and Alí Rondon. "Hermano" made its premiere at the Moscow Film Festival in June, taking home the top jury prize and the audience award...
- 12/21/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Music Box Films has picked up U.S. rights to "Hermano," a Venezuelan sports and crime drama. Distributor plans to release Venezuela's foreign-language Oscar hopeful in late spring. The film, helmed by Marcel Rasquin, focuses on two young men who are raised as brothers in a Caracas slum and must overcome the violent law of the streets in order to become professional soccer players. Starring are Eliú Armas, Beto Benites, Gonzalo Cubero, Marcela Girón, Fernando Moreno and Alí Rondon. "Hermano" made its premiere at the Moscow Film Festival in June, taking home the top jury prize and the audience award...
- 12/21/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
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