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La Femme Nikita

La Femme Nikita

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Surprisingly Brilliant
Review: Coming from watching the popular TV series, I didn't know what to expect of the original French film, but I must admit, I was surprised. The character development is thorough, however still allowing the many plot twists. Truly an entertaining and, at times, humorous film. The color and sound on the DVD is FAR superior to the VHS, giving the film the appearance of a much newer production. All-in-all a great film and a great DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a nifty, fast paced thriller
Review: Luc Besson ("The Fifth Element") directed this intricate, action packed film that keeps one's interest after many viewings. Anne Parillaud is the punky cop-killer who gets reprieved and trained as a government agent. She's perfect for the part: Strong and rambunctious, with a sensitivity that develops as her character matures. Some of her lessons are taught by Jeanne Moreau, who tells her that "There are two things that have no limit: Femininity, and the means of taking advantage of it"...well, if you look like Parillaud, that's probably true !

As the two men in her life, Tcheky Kanyo as Bob, her mentor, and Jean-Hugues Anglade as Marco, her fiancée, are terrific. The cinematography by Thierry Arbogast uses great camera angles and lighting without getting too "arty", and though there's a great deal of violence, it's essential to the plot...and what a marvelous ending. It's the kind of ending I appreciate.

I had to sit through the abysmal Hollywood remake of this a few years ago...titled "Point of no Return", it's one to avoid...see the original instead !

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: la femme nikita
Review: in the picture and this story

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great thriller. Stylish, slick and fast paced.
Review: Nikita (Anne Parillaud) is running with a gang of violent drug crazed punks. Their last big raid, on the pharmacy run by the father of one their number, ends in the kind of shoot out that would later become associated with Tarantino. Several cops and the whole gang except for Nikita lay dead and she is put on trial and sentenced to life in prison.

Bob, (Tcheky Karyo) an officer in the French Security Service thinks that Nikita has some potential. He arranges for her death to be faked and makes a proposal to her. If she is willing, she can be trained as a government killer and given a new life. If she is not willing, or fails to make the grade, the faked death will become a real one.

Her training does not just teach her to become a better killer. Armande (Jeanne Moreau) teaches her how to be a polished and attractive young lady as well. Finally, she is sent out with a cover ID and a series of missions. She is good at her job and her missions are successful but there is just one problem. She has learned more than just how to kill and how to appear feminine. She has learned how to fall in love and must work out how to keep her life with her boyfriend Marco (Jean-Hugues Anglade) separate from her working relationship with Bob.

It's a good story and we see lots of fast paced action. Even in the slower sections, such as where Nikita must introduce Bob and Marco, the tension is high. More than this, we see real character development. Nikita is full of resourcefulness from the start and she learns many things in the course of her training. Often, things that her tutors did not realise that they were teaching.

Right at the end, there is an appearance by Jean Reno in which he presages his later role as the "cleaner" in Leon. The man who sorts out everyone else's worst mess.

Finally, a word of advice. If you can find a copy, watch the French language version with sub titles. You may not understand much of the dialogue but the expressions and the melody of the script still come through.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "They're sending in a clean-up guy."
Review: After witnessing the miracle that is Leon (The professional in the US), I became a fan of Besson's, & decided to see what Nikita was like. And let me say that although it didn't live up to the afformentioned masterpiece (but what film could?), it was a superb piece of entertainment.

The first few scenes aren't the most exciting ever, but as soon as Nikita recieves a shooter, along with instructions detailing what to do with it, for her 23rd birthday in a crowded hotel restaurant, things start to get real good.

This is a film with an interesting storyline, characters you care about, and the most superb action scenes. Besson is excellent at those little snippets of very stylised action, he knows exactly when and where to put them, and not to overdo it, which would would result in the film becoming an 'action film'. Don't get me started on those people who thought Leon was an action film, just don't.

Fans of Jean Reno, and of the movie Leon, will be in for a treat when Victor shows up, oh yes, a treat indeed... This guy was Besson's inspiration for Leon, and it shows, although in character they seem worlds apart, their shared ability to clean in a very cool way puts them in the same boat (at least as far as cleaning goes).

Besson is supposed to like Serra's score for Nikita the most of all the film scores he has composed, personally I think that's nuts. Sure, it goes well with the film, but it just doesn't strike that deeper chords that Leon's soundtrack hit with just about every track in the film; but maybe that's just my biased opinion.

Buy Nikita, it's a bargain price, and it's worth getting your hands on just to witness Victor the cleaner in action. Not to undermine the rest of the film, whcih is very cool. Another corker from Besson & co.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Don't miss this one!
Review: We bought this movie by mistake but never regreted it. If you don't have a single dubbed movie in your collection you need this one. It blows away anything we've seen. To tell you how good it is, we loaned it out to several of our friends and lost track of who had it. Now no one will admit they have it so we bought another one at Amazon. I can't recomend it enough!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: la femme nikita
Review: this movie is nonstop action.,a very 'stylish' film. Ann Prillaurd is a very talented actress. She added humor and alot of emotion to her character,showing ahe had alot of sensitivity regardless of her violent situation.The ending however 'sad' having to leave the man she loved in order to protect him was a good ending. A MUST SEE FILM!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: la femme nikita
Review: the movie is nonstop action.AnnParrillard is a very talented actress.She added humor and a great deal of emotion to her charactor,showing her to be vunerble regardless of her violent surroundings.the ending however 'sad' to wherw she had to leave the man she loved to protect him was a good ending. A MUST SEE FILM!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A tour de force!
Review: Why haven't this film been praised in America? It is one of the best films I have ever seen! I know that most people don't like watching foreign films with English subtitles, which is why they miss out on great stories and actors.

La Femme Nikita is the story of a street-smart woman (played by Anne Parillaud) who is kidnapped and trained to become a professional assassin. She has to give up her identity and become the big Government secret. The film has a lot of interesting action scenes -- enough to satisfy the James Bondesque film era. The difference, of course, is that we get to watch a great heroine in action for a change. Also, you will enjoy the strong Pygmalion theme in the film.

I know of people who have seen The Point of No Return (the American version of this film) with Bridget Fonda and the USA Network series based on this film, but the original is always the best. Give this amazing French film a whirl and embark on the experience of great foreign films.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A DVD review
Review: A below average DVD when it comes to extras. The dubbed English is very poor obviously done on a sound stage. It was meant to be seen in the original French anyway. The English subtitles match the dubbed English. The trailer was disconcerning. It was elongated in the vertical. I'm not sure that this wasn't intentional. Regardless it was difficult to watch. The DVD had a cool menu screen but without content, who cares? The video and sound (French) were okay, but not top quality. A worthy video if you like the film. It's fun to watch 'Point of No Return', the American remake, to see the differences introduced in the story.


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