Colombiana (2011) - The Spoiler

It's been quite awhile since I last watched a good movie due to my busy schedule in the last few weeks, but a friend hinted me about Colombiana recently and said it's a must watch. I had no regrets at all watching it. It's such a beautiful movie and I suggest you go watch it if you haven't seen it. To fully experience it, I'd suggest you go watch it at the cinemas as it's currently showing there. Here's a spoiler if you need some motivation before you give it a shot:

Bogota, Columbia. A man, named Fabio, is speaking to Don Luis, a drug lord and his boss. Fabio tells him he is quitting and handing over all the book keeping on the cartel to another associate. Don Luis smiles and says he will miss him and they toast to Fabio's life. Fabio leaves and Don Luis motions to Marco (Jordi Molla), his right hand man. "Kill him!," Don Luis says. No one leaves Don Luis' cartel.

But Fabio is not stupid. He knows his boss will retaliate at anyone wanting to leave the life of drug smuggling... including him. Fabio takes three guards loyal to him and races home, knowing they have only an hour to leave the country. Fabio gets home and tells his wife, Alicia, that is time. He tells his young daughter, Cataleya, to pack but she says she is already ready. Fabio tells her in case something happens, she should go the American embassy and give them a microchip. It has all the information on Don Luis' illegal activities. "It's your passport." He also gives her an address for his brother. Fabio then gives his daughter his necklace that has the Cataleya flower on it. She was named after it, because his mother always grew them. "Never forget who you are." he says.

Minutes later, Marco and numerous cartel members show up and slaughter Fabio's men. Fabio and Alicia grab guns and try to hold the men off but are killed off-screen. Cataleya sits at the table in shock and listens to the gunfire. She quickly swallows the microchip. Marco and the men come up to Cataleya. Marco pretends to be friendly saying he was a friend of her father but Fabio took something from Don Luis; the microchip. Marco asks if she knows where it is and she nods. Marco asks what she wants. Cataleya leans in close... and grabs a knife placed under the tabled and stabs him in the hand. "To kill Don Luis!" screams Cataleya.

Cataleya scoops through a window and onto a ledge. Apparently her parents taught her skills to survive in case something like this happened. She runs off to escape while Marco's cartel goons give chase. Despite having parkour runners, men on motorcycles and in cars, Cataleya eludes them by escaping into the sewers. She opens a manhole cover and heads to the U.S. Embassy where she is sent to an agent who asks about her father. Cataleya says he is dead. The man asks if his dad had something, and Cataleya quick forces herself to throw up and gives him the microchip. It has the records of all Don Luis' activities. The agent looks at her in shock and asks if she realizes what she had. "My passport." Cataleya says.

In exchange for the chip, they get her out of the country and papers. An American CIA agent is escorting her to Miami. Cataleya asks to go to the bathroom and escapes through the window. She gets a bus ticket to Chicago, where her father told her to go. She heads for a seedy neighborhood and asks for Emilio. The man Emilio (Cliff Curtis) is Fabio's brother, and her uncle. When Emilio sees her, he is over come and hugs her. Cataleya is finally able to let go, and cries in her uncle's arms.

The next morning, she wakes up in her uncle's apartment and comes down to breakfast. Her grandmother is there who makes her breakfast. Cataleya asks about whose room she slept in. Emilio looks sad and says it was his son's room and he is dead. Emilio asks her about a drawing she did and she says she used to want to be like Xena but not anymore. Emilio asks what she wants now. "To be a killer. Will you help me?" says Cataleya. Emilio replies "sure".

The next day, Emilio takes her to a private prep school and bribes the principal to accept her in the middle of the school year. As they leave, Cataleya is mad because she thinks she can learn nothing at school. She needs to learn how to be an assassin. Emilio suddenly pulls out a revolver and shoots at a person driving a car, causing it to crash. He tells her that hired killers are a dime a dozen, he could teach her and she'd be dead in five years. If she wants to do this and be smart, she needs to go to school. She needs to know how people think. Cataleya listens to him.

PRESENT DAY

Two cops are sitting in their car, talking about their wives when they are smashed into by a drunk driver. A woman comes out, incoherently babbling. They quickly arrest her and we can see a flower necklace on the woman. It is Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) all grown up. They take her to the police station.

There, she is booked on DUI and thrown into a cell for the night. She goes to sleep.

U.S. Marshals show up that night with a prisoner. They take him to his cell. Cataleya wakes up. Her whole DUI was a ruse to get into the police station. The prisoner is the target. She changes her clothes into a skin tight black suit, and picks the lock. She grabs a spoon that was in a cup of coffee at her cell. She swivels the cameras away so she is not seen, and grabs some water from the cooler and heads to the electrical room. She rigs the cup and the spoon to cause a spark out and heads into the air ducts. After a few seconds, the water from the cup leaks out enough to short out the power. Cataleya gets through a now stopped fan just before the power is reset. She drops into the men's restroom.

The cop guarding the prisoner notices he has no coffee and leaves the room. He goes into the bathroom and is knocked out by Cataleya. She drags his body in front of the camera so the door will be reopened. She opens the cell and hits the prisoner awake. She tells him to undo his shirt. He asks 'why' and she shoots him several times.

The Marshals hear the gunshots and run to the cell to see the waking up guard with the gun in his hand. Cataleya framed him for the killing to buy her time to escape. The Marshals still search the entire building and Cataleya goes up to the roof to elude them. When the coast is clear, she heads back through the air ducts, finds her cell, locks the door, and changes back into her clothes. By the time the marshals find her, she is laying back down pretending to sleep again. The marshals have no clue what happened.

Cataleya is released the next day after being fingerprinted. She leaves the jail and pulls at her hand. She was wearing fake latex skin that replicated another person's prints.

Cataleya goes home and dances to some music. She gets a shower and washes herself for a long time.

Cataleya heads to the apartment of Danny (Michael Vartan), a painter and her quasi boyfriend. Danny knows little about her, and only knows her as "Jennifer." Danny and Cataleya have sex and she leaves the next morning without saying goodbye. It is clear she is afraid to show who she really is to him.

FBI Special Agent Ross (Lennie James) comes to the jail and realizes the victim is the latest of a string of murders they have been tracking for the past four years, 22 in all. They call the perp "The Tag Killer" due to the markings the killer leaves on the chest. We see it is the Cataleya flower.

CIA Agent Richard (Callum Blue) travels to New Orleans to a heavily guarded villa. It is the home of Don Luis, who was not persecuted for his crimes. Richard shows him the hit from the jail cells, but Luis denies he had anything to do with it. Richard tells him that the CIA was very nice with him; he got Witness protection and got to continue to run his cocaine smuggling business in exchange for information. But Richard tells him he knows that something is up and Luis knows what it is. After Richard leaves, Luis tells Marco to handle the situation. Luis strongly suspects that Cataleya is behind the killings. As he didn't kill Cataleya the first time, now he must finish it.

Ross holds a meeting about the Tag Killer and their numerous victims. He concludes that one of the people in the jail killed the target and they need to find out who. Ross also says they need to release the information about the case.

Meanwhile, Cataleya goes to see Emilio. He shows her the paper with her calling card. He is livid, calling the action stupid. Emilio says he promised his brother to protect her. He never wanted her to go down this road. He is always funneling jobs away in order to protect her. Cataleya, defiant, says she CHOSE this path herself and she will not stop until Luis is dead. Emilio sighs and hands her the next job. A hedge manager created a ponzi scheme and stole billions and fled the country. People want him dead.

Ross is at the FBI office going over security footage. Some of his agents think the killer is Cataleya seen on the tape but he cannot believe a woman would be this type of killer.

Cataleya goes to her work office where there are two large dogs who happen to listen to her. She feeds them steaks. Inside, Pepe, a friend of Emilio is there. He handles her weapons and cars. Cataleya goes into a safe and pulls out her fake passports and finds one for Mexico.

Mexico. We find ourselves in the mansion of the hedge manager who lives in opulence surrounded by stunning women he wouldn't have a chance in hell with if he didn't have billions. One woman mentions the sharks in the aquarium pool are ignoring her, but the man tells her one drop of blood and they would become her best friend as they ate her. The hedge fund manager tells his security he wants extra men tonight.

Cataleya swims through the aquarium and pushes up a glass cover to enter the mansion. She pulls out a pistol and silencer.

The hedge fund manager gets up and notices Cataleya wrote on him "Thief" and the flower design. He walks around his mansion and notices all his guards are dead. He picks up two guns and heads into the pool area seeing a flower. Cataleya is sitting in a chair and makes her presence known. He tries to shoot her but his guns are empty. Cataleya shoots him in the legs. The man pleads with her to not kill him, he will pay double what she was paid. "I'm not going to kill you." Cataleya says. The man realizes he is underneath the sharks and understands what she meant. He pleads not to let him die, but Cataleya shoots him in the chest and he falls into the opened pool. The blood flows and his sharks eat him alive in seconds.

Back in the USA, Cataleya goes to Danny's apartment but he left to see about some galleries. She sleeps on his bed and holds his shirt close. It is clear she cares about him, but she is afraid to show it.

Meanwhile, Ross is looking at the Tag Killer calling card when the mailman gives him a vital clue; it is the Cataleya flower that only grows in Columbia. Ross tries to tie it to open cases in Columbia but is denied access due to it falling under CIA jurisdiction.

Ross calls Richard and asks for clearance but Richard dodges the issue. He calls Luis and tells him to handle the problem before Agent Ross starts to connect the dots. Luis sends Marco to track Cataleya down and interrogate every Colombian until it leads to her family.

Danny comes home and Cataleya bought dinner. He is happy and Cataleya kisses him. Danny stops her and asks to sit, eat dinner, and talk some. She asks about his trip and he tells her they want to do a gallery of his work. Danny asks about her trip and she said it was hot and she swimmed some. Danny presses for more but she is reluctant. Danny tells her he just wants to know who she is. Danny asks what she likes for breakfast. "I don't eat breakfast." Cataleya says. Danny and Cataleya sleep together again. It is now mid day. Danny takes a quick photo of Cataleya sleeping. He wakes her up with breakfast food and tells her they can eat it for lunch. Cataleya freaks out and says she did too much and she has to leave. Danny is flustered, wondering what the hell he did wrong.

Cataleya meets with Emilio. He is livid, having seen the paper. Cataleya has not stopped with her calling card. People are looking for them, showing that eight people were gunned down in a bar, one being a friend of Emilio. "You're retired." Emilio tells her. Cataleya refuses to quit but Emilio says it is not just about her, it is about the family she has left, she is putting them in danger. When his son died, he killed many people, but it changed nothing and he put his family at risk. Emilio leaves her with a picture of her parents, a reminder of what can be lost. Cataleya sits and cries.

Cataleya goes to church with Emilio and her grandmother. She seems to be ready to give up her quest for revenge.

Danny is at a coffee shop talking about his girlfriend "Jennifer" to a buddy saying he is falling for her but he knows nothing about her. The buddy sees the photo and is shocked on how hot she is. Danny is distracted with his car being ticketed so his friend takes the phone with the photo and calls his sister in law who works at a police station. He asks her to check on "Jennifer" to make sure she is legit so Danny won't be hurt. The man has no clue what he has done.

Ross is at his computer when it is pinged with Cataleya's photo. He traces the signal to the other police station, and has the technician arrested as they track the signal further. Ross compares the photo to the security footage at the jail and its a match. Cataleya is the woman who he is looking for.

Cataleya goes home and calls Danny, trying to articulate how she feels about him. Danny mentions the photo and she freaks, asking who else saw it. He mentions his friend as Cataleya checks the perimeter of her apartment. SWAT is there to arrest her. She turns on the shower and climbs into a duct to escape out of her apartment.

She runs through several apartments, and enters one. The tenant tries to make a fuss so she knocks him out. She recovers a harness and a sniper rifle in the man's bathroom, she previously planted it there. She plants explosives on the wall as Ross and his agents blow the door to her apartment. She uses the harness to slide down the pipes down to the garage. She shoots out the cameras and is able to slide into another air duct before SWAT finds her. She ends up in the subway and she sneaks away.

Cataleya heads to Emilio's but finds the place ransacked. Pepe is on the floor dead. She finds her grandmother dead in the kitchen, making her break down. She looks for Emilio and finds him tied a chair dead. It was clear he was tortured. Cataleya tells him she's sorry and screams in a combination of sadness and anger.

Ross comes home and Cataleya is there waiting with a gun. She motions for him to sit. She reveals that she has rigged his chair with a pressure senstive explosive so he shouldn't try anything funny. Cataleya tells him she's who he has been looking for. The Cataleya flower tag was a sign to call out Don Luis but it took till now to get his attention. Now he took the last part of her. Cataleya tells Ross he better get the information about Don Luis from the CIA or she will kill a family member once a week until he is as hollow as she felt all those years ago. She promises his bomb will be deactivated as soon as she is as gone which it is. Ross goes to Richard and tells him the situation. Richard will not give up the info. Ross gets a call. It's Cataleya who tells him either Richard gives her the address or he will die. Richard scoffs since his windows are reinforced glass. Cataleya shoots off a round with her sniper rifle, breaking through the glass. Richard gives him the address. Ross asks about his family but Cataleya hangs up (but she had no intention of harming them anyway).

Cataleya goes to Pepe's garage. She grabs some guns. She sees the two dogs and looks at them. She grabs the armor truck and drives off to Don Luis' location.

At Don Luis' mansion, Marco is directing the men what they face with Cataleya. She is not to be taken lightly. Luis hears something. It is a rocket that is coming their way. Luis barely gets out of the way as it blows up the room. Marco pulls him up and they try to get him out of there.

Four of the men get into a car in order to start a convoy. Cataleya busts through with her truck, crushing the car. She gets out and peppers the car with bullets, killing the men.

In the climatic shootout, bit by bit, she kills off Luis and Marco's men. Marco place Luis in a safe room while he tries to kill Cataleya. After a few brief shootouts it is just Marco with one other man. Cataleya kills the man then faces Marco with her gun. They begin to fight hand to hand, alternately disarming each other with Cataleya's handgun. Cataleya turns to using a towel to try and choke him. After awhile, Marco grabs the gun and goes to fire, but Cataleya ejects the clip and rips the slide off the gun and stabs him the neck, killing him.

Luis, realizing all his men are dead, but Cataleya doesn't know where he is, leaves the panic room and takes one of his vans. He runs into a dead end due to a garbage truck. He receives a call from Marco's cell. It is Cataleya. Luis tells her that she will never kill him, she never had him. "Actually, I have you EXACTLY where I want you." Cataleya says. Luis looks back and sees Cataleya two dogs. "Eat!" Cataleya tells the dogs. They tear Don Luis apart, making her revenge complete.

Danny was taken into custody by Ross and the FBI. Danny knows little and tells them so. Ross says while he is not under arrest he still has questions to answer. Danny asks for coffee and Ross goes to get it. Danny gets a call from Cataleya. She tells him she's OK and they have 40 seconds before they trace the call, so that's enough time to ask three questions. He asks for her real name and she tells him it's Cataleya. Danny asks if his little bird will return one day (meaning her). Cataleya tells him that maybe one day she can.

An agent tells Ross that Danny is getting a call from Cataleya, and they rush back in.

Danny has only seconds now. "I love you." Danny says which makes Cataleya tear up. Ross orders him to give over the phone but Cataleya hangs up before he can get anything from her. Ross stares at the phone and tells Danny he's free to go.

Cataleya puts her sunglasses on and gets on a bus for a destination unknown.