Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia

This is the third and at the time of writing also the final part of the “Behind Enemy Lines” film series. And don’t be afraid if you haven’t seen the two previous films as they aren’t really related to each other besides having the same main title and the character of Scott Boytano (played by Keith David) appearing in both.

“BEL” Colombia” was actually the first of the trilogy I’ve seen, and the reason why I got interested in it was Ken Anderson aka Mr. Kennedy from WWE. I’m into wrestling, and I’ve already seen Mr. Kennedy act in a short trailer for "Fighting the Still Life" directed by Sick Nick Mondo. I don’t know what happened to the project though, but I remember that Mr. Kennedy was good. Besides, the cover for "BEL: Colombia" looked really cool and that was pretty much all I needed to know about it.

Sean Macklin (Joe Mangianello), Carter Holt (Mr. Kennedy) and Kevin Derricks (Channon Roe) are the last survivors after their SEAL them gets ambushed and later accused of a terrorist act they didn’t commit. With everything and everyone working against them, will they be able to find a way out of this clusterfuck? (God, I love that word!) As far as the story goes, I don’t have any idea if it has any relation to real events in Colombia, and frankly I don’t give a shit.

Mr. Kennedy on the totally cover was actually a marketing trick to lure potential viewer. But that doesn’t mean the film’s bad. On the contrary, it’s actually quite well done. It’s just that Mr. Kennedy’s character Carter Holt isn’t in the main role. Actually, “BEL: Colombia” is a film without a real protagonist, it’s about the team and it stays about the team to the end. A nice thing for a change, I must admit. It also isn’t over the top, like I expected it to be. All WWE films are aimed at the younger generation and feature a somewhat over exaggerated action. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but like I said, it’s nice to see something a little different now and then.

It also really surprised me to hear a criticism of an all-American brand - McDonald's, especially in an American film about American marines. One of the marines, after being rescued by his comrades, says: "The bastards [his captors] made me eat McDonalds!" That doesn't mean you won't have to swallow some pro-American propaganda, but don’t we always?

Back to Carter Holt. Mr. Kennedy was good, but the character was a bit too pushy. He was the wise-cracking guy in the team and his one-liners were a little overused. You know, their team been killed and he’s spitting out some wise remarks that were supposed to be cool, I guess, but actually sounded out of place. Other than that, he and everyone else was normal. No one was playing Rambo.

It all comes down to this: do you like B-action films?

Rating: 7/10

- review by Ventilation Shaft