Rating: ***
Review Date: 10/12/24
Cast: Oksana Orlan, Maurice Compte, Sebastian Carvajal,
Alanna De La Rossa
"That pain you feel inside? Embrace it. You're a survivor. A warrior."
A small plane is shot down over Colombia, and the pilot miraculously survives. She also takes out the guys who shot her down and attempted to steal her cargo. Her name is Dominique (Oksana Orlan), a Ukrainian smuggler who's highly proficient in the art of killing people. Against her better judgement, she gets involved with a local police officer and his family, which spells trouble for both of them since the corrupt chief of police (Maurice Compte) is looking for the person who killed his brother-in-law at the site of the plane crash. Guess who that might be? Eventually, the entire dirty police force comes after Dominique and her new friends with orders to kill everyone, and she puts up a hell of a fight. However, despite her incredible skills and uncanny luck, the odds are stacked against her and there's no happy ending in sight.
I stumbled upon this film while looking for new releases, and being a female action fan, I was intrigued and had to track it down. Unfortunately, it had a very small release and was only playing at one theater within 50 miles of me, and only had one showtime. Not surprisingly, I was the only person in the theater, which was both great and depressing. Regardless, for such an obscure film, I was pleasantly surprised. It's the best female action film I've seen in several years, and Oksana Orlan delivers a fantastic performance. The film was obviously tailored for her, which isn't surprising given the fact that she wrote the story and also served as an executive producer. Similar to Charlize Theron in "The Old Guard" (2022), she cut her hair for the role and isn't glamorous at all. She has a hard and rough look that's backed up by her actions, and she establishes her character very quickly. She's a bit of a mystery, and the only piece of backstory that we get is that she's trying to escape Europe and start a new life. She has no agenda other than staying alive, which makes for a refreshingly straight forward action film with no superfluous baggage. While you certainly root for Dominique and care for her well-being, most of the drama and tension are provided by the supporting characters, who are helpless victims of circumstance. 16-year old Alanna De La Rossa gives a remarkably heart-wrenching performance as a typical teenage girl who just wants to live a normal life and dream about romance, but is thrust into the crossfire of drug cartel warfare. It's a raw, unflinching, and relentlessly grim film, which makes it unbearable to watch at times, especially when innocents are in peril.
Production-wise, the film looks great and makes excellent use of the Colombian locales. Some of the visual effects are less than stellar, especially where fire is involved, but for the most part the effects are convincing. The acting is very good across the board and the music score is appropriately tense and nerve-wracking. Oksana Orlan has a great physical presence and Dominique is an intimidating force throughout the film. You do not want to cross her. The action scenes are nicely staged and Orlan's fight choreography is effective and fun to watch. Overall, I was very impressed and really enjoyed the film, despite some of its graphically unsavory moments. It's unfortunate that Orlan wasn't able to produce this ten years ago when she was in her physical prime. I hope that she's able to continue honing her action persona, and I would love to see more adventures with Dominique.