FILM REVIEW: Colombiana (15)

The script, co-written by Robert Mark Kamen, bears all the hallmarks of their previous collaborations (The Transporter trilogy, Taken), pitting a lone figure against seemingly overwhelming odds in the name of justice.

Besson hands over the directorial reins to Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3), who orchestrates some thrilling set-pieces littered with bone-crunching fist fights, explosions and daredevil acrobatics.

The opening chase through the favelas of Colombia is snappily edited and he masterminds a bravura sequence in a police station, which sees the latex-clad heroine crawling around the building’s ventilation ducts to sneak up on a criminal under armed guard.

A late night assault on a kingpin’s mansion errs towards unintentional campness by using a subterranean shark pool as the point of entry.

James Bond would raise a shaken martini in approval.

The film opens in 1992 Colombia, with 10-year-old Cataleya (Amandla Stenberg) witnessing the deaths of her parents at the hands of thug Marco (Jordi Molla) and his gun-toting goons, who are in the employ of druglord Don Luis (Beno Benites).

The girl escapes the melee with an expertly concealed memory card and heads to the American embassy.