Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: TF1 Films Production

Video: Sony Pictures

 

Disc:

Region: 'A'-locked (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:51:35.689

Disc Size: 41,609,965,623 bytes

Feature Size: 29,915,541,504 bytes

Video Bitrate: 24.85 Mbps

Chapters: 16

Case: Standard Blu-ray case inside cardboard slipcase

Release date: December 20th, 2011

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 2940 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2940 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio French 2239 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2239 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio Portuguese 2216 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2216 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio English 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps

 

Subtitles:

English (SDH), English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, none

 

Extras:

• Colombiana: The Making Of (25:12 in 1080P)
• Cataleya's Journey (9:33 in 1080P)
• Assassins (11:54 in 1080P)
• Training A Killer (6:03 in 1080P)
• Take The Ride (7:46 in 1080P)

'UltraViolet' Digital Copy

BD-Live

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: In the action film "Colombiana", Cataleya, 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 and working for her uncle, she remains focused on her ultimate goal: to hunt down and get revenge on the mobster responsible for her parents' deaths.

 

 

The Film:

Saldana, an intense beauty, is a powerful actress, but shares a common weakness with many women who play these kinds of action roles. She doesn't look hefty or athletic enough to beat anyone up. She looks like a high fashion model with a very slender build. It looks like she'd break like a dried twig if you hit her hard. But that can be said of many women who play these kinds of roles, including Hilary Swank, who won an Oscar playing a boxer. Very few actresses look like they have the muscle mass needed to survive an extended boxing match. I guess you have to expect this kind of unbelievable heroine from the same people who brought you the even more ridiculous “La Femme Nikita.” The female empowerment theme in the film is further eroded by the revealing costumes worn by Saldana in the movie. Frequently, she is seen in very skimpy clothing, with as little of her covered as possible. Being a sex object with a gun most is not really female empowerment. It is more like sexploitation.

Excerpt from Robert Roten at lariat.comlocated HERE

Either entrance works for her single-minded character, Cataleya. After watching a Colombian drug dealer kill her parents, a nine-year-old Cataleya (Amandla Stenberg) escapes to her uncle's home in Chicago, and declares her unwavering intention: to seek revenge.

Fifteen years later, her life plan is right on target. She's a paid assassin, killing bad guys that take her closer to her true goal: to find her parents' murderer, and make him pay. All that's standing in her way is a dogged FBI agent (Lennie James), and a suspicious boyfriend (Michael Vartan) determined to find out more about her.

Excerpt from NY Daily Newslocated HERE

 

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

This is hailed as the 1hour 51-minute 'Unrated' version of the film. Colombiana has some golden (childhood), and later greenish (confinement), hues - moving to adventurous blue and returning to explosive, dramatic golden. The Sony Blu-ray picks these up quite adeptly. This is dual-layered with an image bordering on thick saturation. The 1080P rendition looks terrific with exceptional contrast exhibiting healthy, rich black levels. Detail is strong in close-ups.  35mm grain is too fine to be noticeable in normal viewing and textures are not abundant. DOP Romain Lacourbas shows a nice range of unique-angled shots establishing dangerous and thrilling auras. The visuals have no gloss - and noise never seems to be an issue. This Blu-ray probably looks exactly like the film Colombiana did theatrically. There are no image quality flaws at all.

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

The DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 2940 kbps is potent enough to take advantage of the film's generous aggressive sequences (ammunition and explosives). Effects snap to the rear speakers and there is also some appreciated subtlety. The original score by Nathaniel Méchaly carries some bass that the lossless rendering handles without issue. Like the video this is an error free and frequently impressive transfer. There are optional subtitles and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked although available in region 'B' (Europe, Australia etc.)

 

Extras :

Supplements contain about an hour's worth of videos, mostly focusing on production from the 25-minute Colombiana: The Making Of to featurettes touching on the storyline and themes of the film. The Colombiana Blu-ray includes UltraViolet (NOT 'UltraViolent' as I thought it first said), and allows owners of the disc to add the film to their free 'Digital Rights Locker', enabling them to stream or download the film anywhere dependant on some system requirements (that seem quite liberal including Microsoft's Silverlight). The disc is BD-LIVE functional.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
The comparisons to La Femme Nikita - and maybe even overtones of Leon: The Professional are accurate. Zoe Saldana looks perfect for the part of fem-assassin - hot with a hard edge. The 'Revenge' theme is established quite blatantly but that can be appealing to those looking for a quick-fix. For what it is, Colombiana is great - in it's own Bessonian way - and it doesn't masquerade as anything else. You get tons of action and vengeance from an acrobatic, boldly talented babe. So what were you expecting? In the right mood the potential here is quite high for a flashy, surface thrill. The Blu-ray does a first-class job supplying all the elements of eye-candy, ear-drum pounding, a/v and some supplemental info production details. Those even reading this far will probably enjoy it as much as I did. 

Gary Tooze

December 12th, 2011