Zoe Saldana stars as a revenge-minded assassin in Olivier Megaton’s action thriller, which takes a simple, A-grade premise and makes a hash of it with B-level execution. After a tense opening sequence in which a young, resourceful Colombian girl watches her parents get killed by a rival crime boss, we catch up with her in adult form in America, still intent on bloody payback. Saldana is a live, sexy and credible hitperson, going about her business stealthily in body-hugging black, but the film’s momentum halts whenever she’s not in motion. Megaton’s direction is clumsy, the script—co-written by Luc Besson of *Leon: The Professional* fame—seems in need of at least another draft and the supporting actors overplay their roles. Saldana and her character deserve better than these corny cliches.
This article appears in Aug 25-31, 2011.