Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia

Though a slight improvement over its immediate predecessor, Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia‘s dearth of compelling action sequences and abundance of underwritten characters ensures that it ultimately boasts the feel of a pretty standard direct-to-video actioner. Director Tim Matheson – who also appears in a minor role – generally does a nice job of infusing the proceedings with a refreshingly straight forward sense of style, though the filmmaker’s penchant for utilizing slow-motion cinematography during high-octane moments grows increasingly tiresome as the movie progresses. The storyline follows grizzled Navy SEALS Sean Macklin (Joe Manganiello) and Carter Holt (Ken Anderson) as they’re forced to go behind enemy lines after one of their own is captured by villainous Colombian revolutionaries, while the presence of several smarmy CIA agents in Washington forces the soldiers’ stoic commander (Keith David’s Scott Boytano) to surreptitiously assist his men. It’s worth noting that Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia‘s central villain – Yancey Arias’ Alvaro Cardona – actually comes off as a somewhat sympathetic figure, as screenwriter Tobias Iaconis infuses Cardona with far more depth and subtlety than one generally expects from such an endeavor (ie a typically overblown baddie he’s not). The lack of similar character development among the film’s heroes effectively prevents the viewer from becoming particularly invested in their perilous undertaking, however, despite better-than-expected performances from both Manganiello and Anderson (with the latter of whom better known as the WWE figure Mr. Kennedy). It’s only as the lulls within the narrative become all-too-frequent that Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia steps over the line from watchable time-waster to tedious waste of time, thus ensuring that all three movies share a fairly consistent level of mediocrity.

** out of ****