Review of Nikita (1990) by Ben L — 11 Apr 2015

Oh boy, I could go off on this movie for so long. In fact I think I might just do that. Let's start with the nonsensical plot of a government agency that decides the best method of recruiting assassins is to pick up criminals before they are sent to prison. So we get to watch this psychotic woman with no control (to the point where she stabs a cop who's trying to help her) and she is trusted with guns and knives. There's no reason to believe in her, but they do anyways, and because the plot needs to move forward she decides to completely transform and become good. Anne Parillaud is a strange actress. At moments she makes Nikita appear to be an interesting character, but then there are other moments where she goes way over the top and becomes extraordinarily obnoxious. Her performance doesn't gel together into a cohesive character, and is almost unwatchable. Tcheky Karyo gives off a tough vibe as Nikita's handler, but his delivery gets a bit monotone after awhile. In fact he becomes so bland and flat to the point where I just don't care that his role diminishes later in the film. Even the remarkable Jean Reno is wasted in this film. He becomes nothing more than a yelling non-character who only shows up to increase the level of conflict for Nikita.

So what works in La Femme Nikita? Not much. They introduce a love interest for her that she seems to fall madly in love with for no reason at all, other than he was there. They manufacture a big climactic hit that she must perform, but they even undermine that by having everything fall apart but the organization still makes her bumble through it. The only moment I started to think Nikita could end up being an entertaining film was her first hit, but even that got a little over-the-top and ridiculous after a few minutes. I think they could have made a really interesting film if they had spent some time from her boyfriend's point of view. He had an interesting journey because apparently he started to suspect something strange was going on, he started investigating where she disappeared to, he discovered she didn't work at the place she said, and so on. But they avoided any decisions that might be interesting in this movie. I'd recommend you avoid La Femme Nikita, it is not a very good film and there are better movies with the whole "undercover assassin" plot line.