If the otherwise forgettable “The Losers” proved anything earlier this year, its that Zoe Saldana is primed to be the next female action star and if there was any justice (c’mon Hollywood!) she would’ve been right up in there in the casting mix for things like “Gravity” and the “Alien” prequel instead of the usual run of names/faces (some of which were fairly preposterous).
Luckily, Luc Besson knows an asskicking woman when he sees one and she toplines the forthcoming action flick “Columbiana” produced by the French helmer and directed by the perfectly named Olivier Megaton (“Transporter 3“). In the film, Saldana plays “Cataleya Restrepo who at age 10 sees the brutal murder of her parents by a Colombian drug lord Don Luis. Cataleya manages to escape the bullets of the assassin and reach Chicago, where her uncle lives Emilio, also a gangster. Emilio is doing its best to remove Cataleya from the criminal life, but she is determined to become a professional killer. At 25, Cataleya has become a real killer operating on behalf of his uncle, Emilio. But her sole desire is to find Don Luis to avenge the death of her parents.”
Sure, it sounds a pretty standard premise and one we’ve seen a zillion times, but hope that as far as generic action pics go there is enough to make it stand out from the rest. At any rate, in these first photos from the film, Saldana looks appropriately badass so we have our fingers crossed this will be some dumb fun. “Columbiana” will hit theaters next September.
