With some of the names behind this film, I was surprised at theabundance of cheesy bad guys, predictable scenes, and flat supportingcharacters. The only thing that moves this story along is Zoe Saldanaherself with her tremendous presence on screen and beauty, which isbreathtaking. She's very believable as a stone-cold assassin,especially the way she sneaks and crawls around with ninja likeprecision.

It's too bad they couldn't place Zoe and her character into a betterstoryline and provide her with stronger support. Without giving awaythe ending, there's also a final fist fight scene in the end whichlooked like it was filmed and edited by two high-school kids. Isn'tthis 2011? The technology there was very lacking or done in poorchoice.

I still would recommend seeing the movie as its not bad-bad and thereare some cool kill scenes, but I wouldn't qualify it as a must-see. Themovie is somewhat groundbreaking only for the fact we have a Latinafemale as the lead role in an action film, hopefully this finally opensto the door for other darker skinned actresses in similar roles, whichhas been long overdue.

At the dawn of the new millennium, Besson started his own productioncompany, EuropaCorp, which in the last ten years or so has funded itsfair share of diverse movies, both in the French and English language.Nevertheless Europa (as it's known in short) is best known to massaudiences for its numerous, high-octane, medium-budget action films,most of which are written or co-written by Besson himself (often withKarate Kid screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen). Among these are the Taxi,Transporter and District B13 series of films, Wasabi, Taken, From ParisWith Love, Danny The Dog (also known as Unleashed), Bandidas, Kiss OfThe Dragon, Yamakasi, Crimson Rivers 2, Hit-man,… Through thesefilms, Besson is also responsible for introducing the world to Parkour,which seems to have taken over action cinema in the past 5 years (andeven making its way to films such as Step Up 3D).

Colombiana is another product from Besson's action film factory. Thestory starts in 1992 in Bogota, where some mob guy, Don Luis, orders ahit against a former associate of his who he considers has betrayedhim, and naturally his whole family. Only young Cataleya Restrepoescapes the bloody shootout during an intense Parkour chase (whatelse?), and manages to reach her uncle in Chicago, to whom she swearsthat she'll become a hit-man and avenge her family. Fast-forward andenter Zoe Saldana as adult Cataleya as the rest of the film takesplace, strangely enough, in 2007. With her uncle's help, Cataleya hasindeed grown up to be an awesomely skilled contract killer, havingperformed 22 jobs in 4 years. However, she signs each of her kills witha message destined for her real prey, making her one of the FBI's mostwanted. When the FBI decides to divulge her "serial killer" status, DonLuis and his men know what's up, and all hell breaks loose.

Much has been said of the film's similarity with Besson's Léon andNikita, with many people musing that the film could just have well havebeen a sequel to Léon with Natalie Portman's character all grown-up andkicking butt (something fans have been dreaming about for years). Now Ihaven't seen Nikita, but while there are similarities between Léon'sMathilda and Colombiana's Cataleya, the two films are definitely not onthe same level. Colombiana is really your typical, run-of-the-millBesson action production, which is really not a bad thing. It is not inthe top-tier of these films (where I place films such as Taken andDanny The Dog), but still a perfectly entertaining romp.

Viewers concerned with director Olivier Megaton due to the perceivedlack of action in Transporter 3, his previous film, need not beconcerned. The action here is almost non-stop, pretty much to thedetriment of plot. While the story has potential and could make for afilm with a lot more depth, whatever plot is here is minimal to themax, recycled, cliché and basically a hodge-podge of all previoushit-man/revenge/on-the-run-from-the-law films you've ever seen. Thereis absolutely zero character development whatsoever and if you didn'tknow that Cataleya's parents were murdered by Don Luis, you would haveno idea why any of the characters are doing what they're doing. I'm notexaggerating, the Transformers films, heavily criticized for thisreason, have more character development.

But lack of plot depth isn't really a negative here. More depth wouldhave certainly made it a better film, but Colombiana is stillentertaining as a simple, straightforward, "dumb" B action flick. Likeall EuropaCorp films, production values are top-notch. The expectedParkour chase is kept fresh by having it unfold with a child. ZoeSaldana gives a great physical performance and spends a great deal oftime flitting in and out of vents and the various hits shown in thefilm are all quite cool. The other actors also do fine, though MichaelVartan's character has very little purpose and is actually barely inthe movie. Also this might be the only movie you'll ever see in whichtoothbrushes are used as weapons.

In short, know what to expect from Colombiana (which literally meansColombian woman by the way), and you'll enjoy it fine. It's astraight-up action movie, no more, no less, very low on plot, high onaction, that falls straight into the heap with the scores of othersimilar Besson-produced films, though it doesn't possess the touches ofhumor that most of his other productions have. In comparison to theother hit-man movies of the year, it's superior to The Mechanic, butway inferior to Hanna (though it contains a lot more action than Hanna,which shouldn't be seen as an action film). This is no Léon: TheProfessional 2, fans can keep hoping that Besson and Portman work thatone out at some point (interestingly, Megaton is first in line todirect if that movie does happen).

First I would like to correct something in the movie's description,here at IMDb. Martin isn't a mercenary, as through the term mercenaryit is generally understood a hired gun for army like operations and notfor hunting deer or rabbits, while I don't think in the movie wassomething that leads to this conclusion. Martin, although he was hiredby a pharmaceutical company, was just a regular, possibly very wellknown for his skills, hunter.

Sadly enough there aren't many movies these days with such an uniquestory, so well done while everything happens along incrediblelandscapes. It's one of those movies you wanna watch home, when there'sno one around so they won't bother you from the course of the events,with the highest sound and video clarity as possible. Even if it hassome flaws, I really enjoyed it and I know for sure I would like to seeit again sometime.

SPOILER ALERT The story resumes to the fact that a hunter by the nameMartin David (Willem Dafoe) is hired by a pharmaceutical company, RedLeaf, to track down and collect samples from an elusive animal, thetasmanian tiger. As the story goes, Martin gets attached to the familywhere he temporarily establishes, as they see in him a substitute fortheir father, from whom they didn't heard anything in the past 8months. By the end of the movie because they had to suffer in theaccount of the job he has to do, as Red Leaf becomes too impatient andjumpy to get what they want, he decides to incinerate what seamed to bethe last specimen of a tasmanian tiger,this way settling the score withthe greedy, a bit too murderous company.

I have to admin that what I've liked about The Hunter, I've liked alot. Most of what impressed me I've tried to summarize before gettinginto the spoiling business. A bearded Dafoe is the embodiment of how ahunter usually looks. Even that calm, reflective attitude he adopted iswhat you usually see at a skilled hunter. Generally speaking of course.

Although it seams the producers paid attention to important detailsI've observed some flaws more or less meaningless. For example whenMartin, as he just arrives, enters a bar, the locals seam a bit tooaggressive while, by that time, they couldn't knew him or hisbusiness.It's hard to believe they just hated any new face they sawaround. Even later the hostility the locals manifest towards the maincharacter remains unexplained as he acts prudent, in almost completesecrecy. Another thing would be that later, when he finds theremainings of those children's father, even if the involvement of RedLeaf is kinda obvious, his death is mostly presented as a mystery.Although I don't find it necessarily as a down side, 'cause is nice touse your brain once in a while and link the events by yourself, itwould had been nice to have a clear picture against whom exactly youshould build a bit of antipathy. After Martin discovers a second hunterwas hired and he arrives back, he finds out that the girl and hersmother (Frances O'Connor) were killed in something that seamed like afire accident. Now don't get me wrong but there was no reasonwhatsoever for the second hunter to set the lodge on fire, assumingthat he was the one who did it as the line of events makes us believe.If he wanted to get rid of some evidence, if that was all about, itwould had been enough to take the encased laptop and do whatever hemight liked with it. Just for that there was no need to set the wholehouse on fire. Even if we suppose it was just an accident, there was noreason to build drama so quickly, forced on the last 15 minutes of themovie, making it feel unnatural in the line of events. The last awkwardthing would be the way the tasmanian tiger is presented, something likesome sort of a chupacabra. It is highly unlikely, for someone, toacknowledge the existence of the very last specimen of an elusivespecie. Being elusive means nobody really knew how many tasmaniantigers were in the wild, so how come he was so sure, near the ending,he caught the last one ?

If you're going only for the obvious, sure it ain't perfect, but itsflaws pale compared to the overall feeling. I think it aims somewhereat a deeper level,leaving the impression of a kind soul bound to stayalone in a world with greed, finding his meanings in the wonders ofnature.

When I first read the plot synopsis for this film I thought it wasgoing to be some sort of goofy action film, with this bad-ass chasing atiger around in the woods – like some sort of non-alien version ofPredator. It is not like that at all. The hunting scenes are morescenic than violent, and the film explores personal interactions, aswell as issues related to mankind's destruction of natural resources.The key is that it does this without you realizing it until the film isover. It doesn't get bogged down with that stuff and maintains a levelof suspense that is engaging.

Three reasons you should watch it: 1. Dafoe is well cast and does agreat job as the hunter. He has an edge and toughness that feels realwithout seeming cartoonish. I think this is because there are timeswhen he looks frail, cold, tired, confused, etc. He never breaks, buthe isn't some sort of superhuman terminator. 2. Very cool scenery whichis well shot. 3. I am tired of the "bad-ass loner softened by awoman/child" plot line we see in so many films. I 've never bought thatstoryline and it is everywhere. Although his film doesn't dodge itcompletely, it is handled more deftly and realistically than usual. Wedon't get put on pause halfway through the film for some artificiallove scene, and with the possible exception of the very final scene,none of Martin's actions on that front seem all that hokey orcontrived.

One thing you might not like: As I mentioned above, we don't reallyever learn why the mysterious biotech company wants the tiger dead andwhat they intend to do with the samples they want returned. I don'tthink the movie needed to cover that in great detail, but there are alot of people dying over this tiger so it seems like we should know abit more about why.

I absolutely LOVED this movie all the way through until the lastfifteen-or-so minutes. That killed it for me. Dead. Like an elegant,visual opera interspersed with many subtle emotions that are raw,clear, undefined and believably contradictory. Weaving a deeplysatisfying tapestry of scenery, humor, characters, and all theirdifferences, joys and sadness. Brilliantly shot as well in everyrespect. Yet, to me, the ending was SO extraordinarily unnecessary asto be tritely cynical. It basically ruined the feel of the entire movieviewing those final scenes. I 'get' the point of it having watchedmany, many British and Australian films. I just feel that the climaxwas ugly, unkempt, rushed, and offered only an empty cliché with nodefined exit or sense of renewal emotionally. I simply can not ratethis film because of certain creative disappointments, and though Ihave no intention to watch it ever again, I would indeed recommend it.

The scenery is breath taking, great cast, intriguing story line if youknow all about the Tassie tiger, haunting music score makes this a mustsee film. Yes at most parts it is all about the tiger, but the directorand good cast get's you really involved with all the characters andstory line, it left me with chills at the end, and that's something Ilook for in a film but don't find that often, and damn I was notexpecting it in an Aussie film.

9 out of 10 for me, and it's time for me to go back to Tasmania for aholiday, it's been way to long since last time I was there, and mighteven have a look around for that tiger.