Black Cat

Rating:
Summary: New Twist to an Old Tale
Review: First off, make sure that you buy the original release that Amazon offers, not the new English dubbed DVD release. Well, in the grand tradition of Hong Kong Action films to remake American and other films, Black Cat is the remake of the French film La Femme Nikita (The American version, Point of No Return, was the third in this series of remakes). Anyway...Black Cat stars Jade Leung in the starring role of a bad grrrl transformed into a top notch assassin for a top secret organization. The Hong Kong twist is that a computer chip called a Black Cat is implanted into Leung's brain, augmenting her abilities, and making her the great assasin that she is. This film has all the drama and action of La Femme Nikita, plus more. Simon Yam stars as Leung's mentor and controller. All in all a good film. If you've seen La Femme Nikita or Point of No Return, then you already know the plot and ending to this particular film, but give the HK version a chance. They take a proven storyline and do their magic with it.

Rating:
Summary: New Twist to an Old Tale
Review: First off, make sure that you buy the original release that Amazon offers, not the new English dubbed DVD release. Well, in the grand tradition of Hong Kong Action films to remake American and other films, Black Cat is the remake of the French film La Femme Nikita (The American version, Point of No Return, was the third in this series of remakes). Anyway...Black Cat stars Jade Leung in the starring role of a bad grrrl transformed into a top notch assassin for a top secret organization. The Hong Kong twist is that a computer chip called a Black Cat is implanted into Leung's brain, augmenting her abilities, and making her the great assasin that she is. This film has all the drama and action of La Femme Nikita, plus more. Simon Yam stars as Leung's mentor and controller. All in all a good film. If you've seen La Femme Nikita or Point of No Return, then you already know the plot and ending to this particular film, but give the HK version a chance. They take a proven storyline and do their magic with it.

Rating:
Summary: Third version of the script...
Review: Haven't seen the DVD adaptation yet, but the film has the same script as The Assassin with Bridget Fonda or the french version Nikita with Anne Parillaud. If you like those two, you might want to see this third version. The start is a bit slow, but then it's action packed.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing spectacular but worth a view
Review: I've always liked seeing flicks with chicks that kick a**. Thus, my spirits were high going into this film.

Reading the description on the box pretty muched summed up the whole film. IT'S A REMAKE OF LA FEMME NIKITA. Not that this is bad, it's just that it isn't very original.

Yes, Jade does most of her stunts, and quite impressive to say the least. I just wish that the character could have been devolped more in the beginning of the film so we could feel for the character more.

Nothing groundbreaking, but still deserves a look.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing spectacular but worth a view
Review: I've always liked seeing flicks with chicks that kick a**. Thus, my spirits were high going into this film.

Reading the description on the box pretty muched summed up the whole film. IT'S A REMAKE OF LA FEMME NIKITA. Not that this is bad, it's just that it isn't very original.

Yes, Jade does most of her stunts, and quite impressive to say the least. I just wish that the character could have been devolped more in the beginning of the film so we could feel for the character more.

Nothing groundbreaking, but still deserves a look.

Rating:
Summary: different
Review: Okay, it's a little annoying when people claim that Point of No Return was the second remake of La Femme Nikita. Black Cat was made in 1991 while Point was made in 1993. While Point was an almost blow by blow recreation of Nikita, Black Cat took the essential structure and gave it a different spin. Now, that's what I call a remake, what's the point of a blow by blow remake? Black Cat can never replace Nikita for me, I do think Nikata is a superior film. However, Black Cat has Jade and the film's biggest charm is the strength of the then newcomer to the movies. She brings a different intensity and understated fraility to the character. Not that Anne Parillaud was bad, she was very good, but she didn't make me want to go out there and watch every film she has ever made. Black Cat has nice action sequences courtesy of HK. It's focus is completely different from Nikita, it's more an action film then an exploration of what it feels to be trapped. There will be some of us who'll like, even love, Black Cat. There will be many who'll dislike it. There is a reason this film is called a cult classic not a classic. NOT everyone will like this film. Just bear in mind, if you intend to watch this film, watch it with an open mind and don't try and compare it with it's predecessor and you might see why Black Cat became a cult classic and Point of no Return didn't.

Rating:
Summary: different
Review: Okay, it's a little annoying when people claim that Point of No Return was the second remake of La Femme Nikita. Black Cat was made in 1991 while Point was made in 1993. While Point was an almost blow by blow recreation of Nikita, Black Cat took the essential structure and gave it a different spin. Now, that's what I call a remake, what's the point of a blow by blow remake? Black Cat can never replace Nikita for me, I do think Nikata is a superior film. However, Black Cat has Jade and the film's biggest charm is the strength of the then newcomer to the movies. She brings a different intensity and understated fraility to the character. Not that Anne Parillaud was bad, she was very good, but she didn't make me want to go out there and watch every film she has ever made. Black Cat has nice action sequences courtesy of HK. It's focus is completely different from Nikita, it's more an action film then an exploration of what it feels to be trapped. There will be some of us who'll like, even love, Black Cat. There will be many who'll dislike it. There is a reason this film is called a cult classic not a classic. NOT everyone will like this film. Just bear in mind, if you intend to watch this film, watch it with an open mind and don't try and compare it with it's predecessor and you might see why Black Cat became a cult classic and Point of no Return didn't.

Rating:
Summary: Yet Another 'La Femme Nikita' remake
Review: Sigh.

If first you succeed, try and try again.

That's the motto of filmmakers around the world apparently. All we need now is for someone in India to make 'The Killer from Calcutta' and we will have seen every major movie industrial machine on the planet shoot a version of the same script.

If you liked 'La Femme Nikita' in French (the original) and/or the Hollywood remake ('Point of No Return'), then maybe you won't mind seeing it a third time, this time with a Hong Kong sensibility. Me, I think enough is enough. Let's move on already!

('Black Cat' should probably get One Star, but I have to give the crew credit for some impressive stunts. The actors were also less-than-horrible, but no one really rose above adequate.)

Rating:
Summary: Black Cat Fever
Review: The saving grace to BLACK CAT -- a Chinese remake of the French LA FEMME NIKITA that had already been Americanized with POINT OF NO RETURN -- is that the star, newcomer Jade Leung, is the first woman of those actresses to take on the 'Nikita' persona who actually appears to have the athletic physique to pull off the secret missions given to her. Beyond that, the film is little more than a case of 'Black Cat Fever.'

Catherine (Leung) is one bad girl who can't seem to stay out of trouble. After losing her job and nearly losing her life to a vengeful truck driver, she accidentally kills a cop, an uncompromising act that lands her behind bars. In her escape attempt, she is "killed" ... only to be resurrected by a secret government agency that trains her to be an accomplished assassin. BLACK CAT dispenses little logic in dishing out Catherine's missions; as a matter of fact, most of the action sequences take place for no reasons provided in the script. Still, the pacing is well, and Leung carries the picture along over plothole after plothole.

As Catherine, Leung embodies her character with the lithe grace of the-girl-next-door-gone-postal, and, unlike her counterparts in other pictures of the same theme, she isn't exactly a postergirl for Hollywood lavishness. Her beauty is demure, left plain with an almost boyish haircut, and the result is a kind of rugged honesty: tumble with this 'cat,' and you're about to get clawed.

Nonetheless, CAT never rises to the level of quality storytelling. There's little (if any) backstory to Catherine's past. There's little (if any) explanation of the CIA's involvement in Chinese or Japanese affairs. And there's little (if any) substance to the romantic entanglement Catherine finds herself in the middle of. As a matter of fact, after the film's first hour, very little of what happens is given any backstory whatsoever -- other than to serve as events for showcasing Black Cat's lethal skills. The film is about action-sequenced bravado as Leung lunges from one gun fight to the next, ignoring the moral questions raises by the French original, the American remake, and even (arguably) the popular television series starring Peta Wilson. Much like the other versions, the centerpiece is the female, and, in that capacity, Leung holds a welcome presence. Despite the shortcomings, it's hard not to find interest in Leung's performance: don't be surprised to root for the bad girl, even though you've no idea of what she's up to.

Leave your brain at the door when you let this CAT in the house.

Rating:
Summary: It's a smart movie that knows its owner
Review: Why is it so often the remakes of movies get the attention and accolades and it's not for some time afterward that the debt is attributed to the original? Such is the case with this film. Everybody went nuts for La Femme Nikita and thought Hollywood had the nerve to remake it as Point of No Return. They should have acknowledged this first and slapped both their hands. Maybe it's only because Hong Kong cinema is finally finding an audience that this title has surfaced. Though I like "La Femme" quite a bit, something in this version intrigued me more. Maybe it's because the heroine has greater inherant sadness and frailty about her, making the transformation all the more powerful. Anne Parlliaud is rough and tough from the get-go and merely seems to have had her natural criminality channeled into something acceptable (to the authorities anyway). The Black Cat seems to flow a bit steadier as well. I found my mind drifting a bit during La Femme when she begins to settle into a life of mayhem and finds it difficult to include a relationship into her routine. The production design in La Femme (the production values in general) are higher than those in The Black Cat, but Hong Kong cinema is not know for budet and this film performs admirably on significantly less. If you liked either of the remakes, give this a shot. It should satisfy on several levels.