From writer/producer Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Leon: The Professional ) comes Colombiana. Zoe Saldana plays a young woman who has grown up to be an assassin after witnessing the murder of her parents as a child. Turning herself into a professional killer, she remains focused on her ultimate goal: to hunt down and get revenge on the mobster responsible for her parents’ deaths.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #128 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2011-12-20
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Portuguese
• Running time: 111 minutes

Amazon.com
As a producer, Luc Besson (The Transporter series, Taken, District B-13) has made extremely profitable B-movie hay out of a fairly strict formula incorporating whisper-thin femme fatales, parkour, Gaultier, and guns. Colombiana, another Besson collaboration with director Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3), doesn't exactly blaze new trails, but the combination of Zoe Saldana's fierce performance and a dash of oddball surrealism sure makes the running time zoom by. Purportedly beginning as a sequel to The Professional, the story follows a beautiful South American assassin bent on rubbing out the murderers of her parents. Unfortunately, the closer she gets to her drug lord prey, the more her own loved ones (including Michael Vartan and an amusingly hambone Cliff Curtis) are put at risk. Things go boom, frequently. Director Megaton handles the action with the rapid-cut, blue-filtered zing common to the Besson factory, but things receive a definite boost via the efforts of Saldana, whose performance combines the intensely physical with an appealing soulfulness. Whether slithering through air ducts in a skin-tight cat suit or using a toothbrush as an impromptu weapon, she somehow manages to maintain an air of beyond-the-call gravitas. Also of note are the scenes of the heroine plying her lethal trade, some of which bear the funky logic-defying influence of Mario Bava's great fugue-state caper movie Danger: Diabolik. Ultimately, although the story elements and secondary character motivations rarely hang together, Colombiana's distinguishing marks help place the film somewhere above the level of guilty pleasure. When pitted against the likes of a mobster with a glass-paneled shark tank for a dance floor, reality can take a seat, frankly. --Andrew Wright

Most helpful customer reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
Very good movie, saw it four times. . .
By Paul J. Evans
When this movie was in theater's, I saw this movie about four times.

It is not the greatest movie of all times, but it is very entertaining, and I do like the revenge flics, and Zoe Saldana did a very good job portraying the character, she had a good balance between revenge and her emotions over what she was doing, she was not the typical heartless killer. On par her character reminded me of Denzel Washington character from "Man on Fire", both characters balanced their revenge and their emotions with their revenge acts.

The movie could have been better, maybe more character development with the bad guys and her parents to fully understand the revenge, other than that she saw them killed in front of her.

I am hoping the unrated version will open up more story line to the film, if not, I will still enjoy the film.

I recommend it to anyone who wants to satisfy their revenge flic need, like Man on Fire, Man a Part, etc.

26 of 35 people found the following review helpful.
A very slow and less exciting version of Hanna or Salt. Saldana is good, but the other movies are better. I say C.
By Tony Heck
"I used to want to be Xena Warrior Princess, now I want to be a killer. Can you help?" After watching her parents get killed in front of her, 9 year old Cataleya makes her way to Chicago to see her uncle. After being trained by him to be an assassin she soon goes off on her own for revenge. This is a difficult movie to review. The first 20 minutes is very exciting, but when Cataleya grows up it slows way way down. The rest of the movie drags a lot and while there is quite a bit of action it does not really hold your attention. Saldana does a good job in this, but the movie did not do a good job of showcasing her style of action. I would compare this to "Hanna" which was about a young girl looking for revenge on the murderer of her father. These movies had very similar plots but "Hanna" was a much more fast paced and exciting movie. This movie is also like "Salt" but a much slower version. This is very OK, nothing exciting. Overall, if given the choice between this one or "Hanna", I would choose "Hanna". I give it a C.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Don't Be Fooled!
By Shaun F. Mathis
Criticism of this movie will come in very technical terms (lack of believability, incoherent plot, etc). This is just plain ole fun. It most closely resembles 'SALT' minus the big budget. Nonetheless, its a kick a$$ revenge fantasy with its own charm,with violence that isn't too graphic. This makes a great gift for movie buffs who don't wanna think too much, but want to just drop some popcorn as they howl at the screen. ZOE SALDANA has never looked better.