Nikita [Region 2]

Luc Besson is starting to cause a stir in the French cinema world, his last 3 films, Le Denier Combat; Subway and The Big Blue were all big hits internationally, something which wasn't really common in France at the time. Luc was getting attention from the US, which is a major thing for a non-US director, so this was the start of something big, and Nikita was probably one of the movies which helped him move his career up and forward.Nikita is a wild girl, a bit of a punk. She hangs around with loosers who rob drugs and generally do bad things. Nikita gets caught out with her gang of punks, and she gets into serious bother. She can't undo this easily, and to make things worse, her behavour gets worse, and she stabs a police officer with a pen. She gets refered to go to death row - there's no way of saving her now? Well, that's what everyone else thought.The government decides Nikita can have another try, but she's got to do something to repent her sins - be an assasin for the government and live under the codename Josephine. She has no choice. A lot of strange things happen too, her boyfriend isn't who she expected - and her training turns her into a more charming girl. Things start getting too much when a job goes wrong, and she decides she wants out, but it's never that easy.This is a great movie, and has every emotion you could expect, comedy, romance, great action, tears and some good filmling to boot it all off. This is one of Besson's more French movies, which - to me - is his better work. Anne Parillaud plays Nikita's part excellently, and Subway's Jean-Hugues Anglade (Marco) is excellent, and uses dry witt. The music from Eric Serra is also moving too, and makes some of the scenes more intense, which is about right for this thriller.Excellent movie, add this to your collection today.

Nikita was the movie that put French film maker Luc Besson on the international map and spawned not only a US remake but at least two TV spin-offs; but as always though the original remains the best.Anne Parillaud stars as a junkie sentenced to life imprisonment after killing a police officer only to be given a chance to redeem herself by carrying out missions (usually assassinations) for a mysterious government agency. After completing her training Parillaud is released into the city and meets a kind and quirky supermarket cashier (the always brilliant Jean-Hugues Anglade) with whom she forms a passionate relationship. Parillaud is forced to lead a double life: carrying out government hits while trying to lead a normal life with Anglade. Over time Anglade begins to suspect that Parillaud is keeping secrets, and things come to a bloody head when a hit goes very wrong.If you can get over the absurdity of the central premise (why would the government train a junkie cop killer to become an assassin?), Nikita is a brilliant film; touching, harrowing and at times brutally violent. Parillaud is excellent for the most part, though some of her outbursts are rather bizarre, and there is terrific support not only from Anglade but also from Tcheky Karyo as Parillaud’s government handler who is secretly in love with her. Eric Serra provides a great sythentiser score, at times reminiscent of Brad Fiedel’s work on the Terminator films.Nikita looks great on Blu Ray but the extras are a little underwhelming; most date from an early 2000s DVD release and are all in standard def. There is a 20-min ‘making of’ which includes interviews with all the actors (though not Besson), a short but interesting featurette on the music, a few brief and rather pointless montages that are supposed to illustrate various aspects of the film’s story, and the original trailer.For me Nikita remains Besson’s second best movie (behind The Fifth Element) and it is still as fresh and powerful 25+ years since it was first released.

Luc Besson`s stylish action movie from 1990; I remember it when it came out – the gun violence drew some media attention, though it doesn`t seem so extreme now.The premise is that the lone survivor of a gun battle with police is sentenced to death, but instead is inducted into secret government agency to be trained as an assassin; Anne Parillaud carries the film very well in the leading role, ably supported by a fine cast which includes Jean Moreau and Jean Reno in smaller, but defining scenes.One of Besson`s best films, it has more depth than it was originally given credit for and has spawned several remakes and a Canadian TV series – which are probably more familiar to general viewers than this original.The UK DVD release has a few extras but the only one of importance is the 20 minute “making of “ featurette – the others are mere sound-bites lasting less than a minute with the exception of one on the music that is less than 5 minutes long.It is – of course – a French film with English subtitles.

This movie is one of my faves. I had never seen it dubbed in English. I turned it back to the French version with English subtitles because the actress is so good with her voice inflections, the dubbed version doesn’t do the movie justice, so I’m glad it had all the language options. GREAT 🍿 movie!

One of Luc Besson's best films. It spawned an English version (Point of No Return) and TWO TV shows (one could argue Alias owes a lot to this film as well) Anne Parillaud is mesmerizing to watch as she transforms from street punk junkie to Elite Assassin. It's got touching moments and a cameo by Jean Reno as Victor the Cleaner. It's fun, is paced well and full of great action. Oh and it's aged very well. I was so pleased to add it to my library and specifically my Besson collection. It's required viewing if you are a fan of Luc Besson.

Sollte man unbedingt sehen !Solche spannenden Filme gibt's heutzutage kaum noch !Jederzeit wieder !!!

Excellent film

レビューがよかったのでプレゼントに選びました。きっと喜んでもらえたと思います。