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Colombiana is a 2011 French English-language action film film co-written and produced by Luc Besson and directed by Olivier Megaton. The film stars Zoe Saldaña with supporting roles by Michael Vartan, Cliff Curtis, Lennie James, Callum Blue, and Jordi Mollà. The film is about Cataleya, a nine-year-old girl in Colombia whose family is killed by a drug lord. Fifteen years later, a grown Cataleya seeks her revenge.
The film had a generally unfavorable reception from critics, but Saldaña's performance and action sequences were praised. It grossed $63.4 million against a $40 million production budget.
Fifteen years later in 2007, a grown Cataleya has become an accomplished assassin. Emilio serves as her broker, providing her with contracts. With each murder she commits, she leaves her signature, the Cattleya flower, hoping to one day attract the attention of Don Luis so she can take her revenge. When Emilio finds out about Cataleya's intentions and that she has been targeting men connected to the Don, he begs her to stop to avoid endangering the lives of his own family, but she admits that she does not care about the risk to his family. While she is spending the night with her American boyfriend, Danny Delanay, he takes a photo of her sleeping and then shows it to a friend, who then decides to run a background check on Cataleya, which alerts the FBI.
Meanwhile, FBI agent James Ross is working to identify the killer behind more than twenty unsolved murders, all of which have cattleya orchids left behind. He gets a pin on Cataleya's photo from the background check and orders her arrest, but Cataleya escapes and reaches out to Emilio, only to find that Don Luis's operatives had, indeed, caused the brutal slaughter of Emilio and his entire family. She confronts Ross at his home and threatens to kill him and his entire family, forcing him to reach out to CIA agent Steve Richard, who she knows is sheltering Don Luis from the law in exchange for his cooperation with American authorities. When she threatens to slaughter Richard's family, Richard gives her the Don's location.
Don Luis learns that Cataleya is still alive and organizes his men to kill her, but she ambushes them first and wipes out the entire gang, including Marco. Don Luis flees and swears revenge. Cataleya, having planted her specially trained attack dogs in his escape vehicle, orders them to eat Don Luis alive.
Danny is interrogated by Ross, Cataleya calls him from a payphone; they talk briefly before Ross grabs Danny's phone, but Cataleya hangs up, leaving town on a bus.
Filming began in August 2010 in locations including Chicago, New Orleans, Mexico, and France. "Louisiana Productions as of August 2010". Retrieved 24 May 2011. The film was produced by Besson's EuropaCorp company and the script was written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. "Michael Vartan Joins Zoe Saldana in Colombiana" . ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 24 May 2011. "Zoe Saldana Wants Revenge in Colombiana". Cinematical.com. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
David Martin-Jones, in an essay written for Senses of Cinema, stated that the film was likely to have been perceived by audiences to be an American Hollywood production, noting that "aping the look of a Hollywood genre film, with a non-US twist" had been used in previous European films.
Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.
Christy Lemire of The Associated Press reviewed Colombiana, writing that "The director of La Femme Nikita and The Fifth Element serves as co-writer and producer here, but this is very much a spin-off of his brand, a continuation of the kind of stereotype- and gravity-defying characters he's made his name on. Colombiana feels more hammy and muscular, though – but knowingly so, and that's what makes it solid, late-summer escapist fun." Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "This B-movie blast of bloody blam blam is the latest chapter in the Luc Besson book of badly bruised lovelies who are better not crossed. What he began in 1990 with Nikita followed with Léon in '94 and '97's The Fifth Element, (the last written with Robert Mark Kamen, who co-wrote Colombiana with Besson), he refines in Colombiana." Claudia Puig of USA Today wrote: "This is a showy flower of an action film. Saldaña doesn't get much of a chance to emote, but her action skills blossom." Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter, said that "There are guilty pleasures to be had in this frenzied B starring Zoe Saldaña, who gives an acrobatic performance that makes the overcooked material watchable."
The following year, in an essay published in Senses of Cinema, David Martin-Jones focused on a different aspect of the South American character, believing that the film provided "a different perspective" concerning immigration and international wealth inequality. He notes that a "character from the global south wreaks havoc on the wealthy and corrupt in the global north", offering "a different perspective than is usually seen in a Hollywood blockbuster."
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