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Colombiana: A movie review

The story of Colombiana is pretty standard, but it comes from a writer and director that I like very consistently: Luc Besson. I've been following him more or less ever since he wrote and directed one of my personal favorites; Leon: The Professional. He also did The 5th Element and a bunch of other stuff I really liked, even the transporter trilogy, which admittedly isn't the most intricate storytelling ever, but its still a lot of fun.

But anyhow about the movie: it's got good acting, solid action, and reasonably good pacing. Some parts are a bit far fetched, but that's par for the course with a Luc Besson production. It is a little on the short side at an hour and forty minutes (most movies these days being 2 hours or longer) and that's good because it gets straight to the point and doesn't waste your time with a bunch of superfluous junk.

Admittedly there are a few shortcomings in the plot development and it feels a bit rushed and while that would be crippling for most films, it only ends up being a minor hindrance in this case. Some of this could be attributed to director Olivier Megaton (I thought that last name was funny too =P, if you've played fallout 3 anyway). He directed Transporter 3, which was a perfectly competent popcorn flick, but I think Colombiana needed a little more finesse than that to really be a success and sadly it just ends up being ok.

One thing I will say strongly in this movie's favor is that it has one of the most brutal and convincing hand to hand combat sequences I have ever seen. I really can't do it justice with words, you just have to see it for yourself.

Don't bother seeing this one in theaters, but definitely add it to your netflix queue.

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