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 a Femme Nikita" is the movie that catapulted French
action director Luc Besson to international stardom, as well as convincing the
world the French were capable of more than just moody films about the nature of
humanity and all that other good stuff. "Nikita" proved so successful
that it was remade into an
American film starring Bridget Fonda, the title changed to "The Point of No
Return". That version proved equally successful, paving the way for a
long-running series that was filmed in Canada and shown on the USA network.
The original "La Femme Nikita" stars Anne Parillaud as a drug addict
convicted of murder. Her sentence: become the property of the French Government.
Slowly but surely, Nikita is trained in the ways of the spy -- to kill, to
seduce, and to act like a lady. Upon graduation, she's cast out into the world,
with only one instruction: wait for the phone call that will activate her.
Quickly, Nikita realizes that life working for the government as an assassin is
filled with pitfalls, but to leave means death, especially when her mentor shows
up in her life again.
The American version with
Fonda follows the original closely, but with one big exception that completely
disregards the original movie's primary theme of
redemption and second chances. In the Fonda version Nikita didn't
commit the murder, but was just there when the murder took
place. The original had Nikita actually committing the murder, and doing
so quite gleefully. With one little re-write, everything about the Nikita
character changes for the worst.
Luckily we'll always have the original to watch
over and over again.
"La Femme Nikita" is, first and foremost, a stylish action movie. It's very
well filmed and a lot of its action scenes are incredibly inspired. On her first
assignment, an assassination in a restaurant, Nikita discovers that the exit
isn't where it's supposed to be, and has to improvise; she does so by diving down
a ventilation shaft in the kitchen to avoid a fireball and bullets!. (This scene
was copied scene for scene in the Fonda version, and continues to be copied by
other movies.
It's that inspiring.)
The plot itself is very easy to follow and oddly very realistic. After
being transformed from a strung-out junkie with no prospects
and taught everything from table manners, dressing, make-up -- in a word, how to
behave in civilized society -- Nikita is released.
Of course, she had to prove
that she could whack anyone the government sent her to take out first. But
having proven that, she's released back into the general population with only
one order -- one day, some day, she'll get a call from the agency and she'll
have to obey to the letter.
This little information becomes a great source of suspense, since
any phone
call that Nikita receives out in the "real world" is potentially the
call that sends her to commit cold-blooded murder.
"La Femme Nikita" is filled with terrific action and
great performances by its leads, and writer/director Luc Besson deserves all the
accolades. "Nikita" was kicking ass before it was fashionable for
women to be kicking asses in TV shows like "Alias."
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