Colombiana (Cert 15 )

BACK in 1992 Colombia, 10-year-old Cataleya witnesses the deaths of her parents at the hands of druglord Don Luis and his thug henchman, Marco. The girl heads to Chicago, determined to avenge her parents’ deaths. Fifteen years later, Cataleya has blossomed into a sexy assassin responsible for 22 murders in four years.

Colombiana is a pacy revenge thriller distinguished by a far better performance from Zoe Saldan than Olivier Megaton’s film deserves. The lithe actress wrings genuine tears from her tragic heroine and seems eminently capable of taking down an entire criminal underworld between applications of lip-gloss.

However, a late-night assault on a kingpin’s mansion errs towards unintentional campiness, thanks to a subterranean shark pool. James Bond would raise a shaken Martini in approval.

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Melancholia (Cert 15)

IT’S the end of the world as we know it in Lars von Trier’s apocalyptic drama. Justine and Michael are preparing to tie the knot at a romantic castle wedding but the evening ends with disappointment and shattered emotions. Consumed with depression, she takes to her bed and stares at the skies where a blue planet named Melancholia is due to fly perilously close to the Earth.

It seems something is terribly wrong with the predicted trajectory of Melancholia, and that Earth is on a collision course with the mysterious blue planet.

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Troll Hunter (Cert 15)

IN THE West, trolls are cute gift shop trinkets with voluminous hair, but, in Scandinavia, these fantastical creatures are deeply embedded in folklore. Some are truly terrifying, and director Andre Ovredal explores the mythology in this hugely entertaining and action-packed thriller about a student film crew who stumble upon a secret that involves the upper echelons of power in Norway.

They discover Hans, an employee of the government who risks his life to secretly deal with trolls.

Unexpectedly, he allows the camera crew to follow him on his adventures and the youngsters stand slack-jawed as they glimpse the gargantuan creatures they thought only existed in fairy stories.

Troll Hunter is a fast-paced romp stylised as “found” documentary footage, replete with blurred camerawork. Some of the digital effects lack polish, but director Ovredal cleverly side-steps technological shortcomings by shooting one tense sequence in night vision. Like the petrified students, we hold our breath, praying the dark will keep them safe from harm.

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