La Femme Nikita

I saw this in the theatre originally and many times since through VHS, DVD and now download. This movie and review have nothing to do with the USA TV show by the same name. I never watched that. This has nothing to do with Point of No Return, the atrocious American remake. Unfortunately, I did watch that. This review is for the original, real deal Luc Besson film, in French, the OG. Do not watch the dubbed version. You can read, right? Of course you can. Never watched a film with subtitles? Give it a shot. After a few minutes, you won't even realize you're reading them. No one could dub the word "Josephine" with the same power as the original French pronunciation. I'm getting chills just thinking about it.Nikita is the seed for our modern badass girl action. Drew Barrymore's Charlie's Angels, which is super fun, comes a year after Nikita so obviously already long in production. But CA's is as much a comedy as anything else. While Nikita has its moments, it is not a comedy. It is a wonderfully violent horror show based more in reality than most action movies. Without Nikita, there is no Charlize Theron or Scarlett Johansson or Milla Jovovich, the latter two also cast by Luc Besson.It's still my favorite action movie. I'm pretty sure it always will be. It's by far the most stylish, dark and haunting. It's all about character development until it's all about action. It's worth the wait. Trust Luc! He is taking you somewhere. You are so deeply invested by the time Nikita is put into service, you apprehensively creep towards the edge of your seat and never leave it, not for like 5 minutes after the credits role. If you are a bit of a leaker and cry at some point, it's not my fault.It put Luc Besson on the international map. His next movie was The Professional (where he "discovered" Natalie Portman). It was in English. As far as I know, he hasn't made more than a couple of French films since. Most of the actors, emigrated, learned English (if they weren't already fluent) and now appear regularly in our US entertainment. If you loved The Professional, watch this. It's loads better.

I love this film!

Good quality DVD. Hard to find this DVD. Reasonable price

I first La Femme Nikita (played by Anne Parillaud) this movie at a theater "on the Ave" during college. I have been wanting a dvd as I switch my collection over to discs, so it did not matter that it was a Korean distributed with Korean, French and English subtitles on a French audio (I have an all-region Blu-Ray player so it really didn't matter).Besson was changing French cinema at the time because he was an amateur who had worked his way up through crews without having gone to college because he loved movies. He doesn't approach moviemaking through an academic approach. He wants to make movies he would watch. This was one of the first and it starts out with the protagonist in the French youth movement, punk nihilism combined with crime and drugs. Because of a pharmacy break-in and the shooting of a police officer where she was the only surviving member of the four punks she is sentenced to life in prison and supposedly dies.Of course, she didn't die. Tchecky Karyo, in one of his earliest starring roles, has drafted her into his government covert organization unless she really wants to be buried in the grave in the cemetery. She has the skills needed but resists at first, then when the option of being "put back in her place" becomes real she succeeds at her first test mission even with the unexpected changes of plan. That is the setup and hopefully you won't think I have spoiled it too much (if you are interested in this movie you have probably already seen it, if not that was a setup and not a spoiling of the story).The movie is stylish to the 1980s. It is violent. It does end up with her falling in love although she cannot tell the man the truth about her life. Jeanne Moreau (the classic French dame) and Jean Reno (Besson gave him the roles that got him noticed) have wonderful roles in this movie. It brings back when I was watching international films for the first time in art house theaters.

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.

Il ya simplement un boîtier et une jaquette sympa pour la qualité son et image boff

El DvD estaba en otro idoma como ya sabia y que reemplacé con otro. Como coleccionista solo me interesaba el diseño y su caja metálica. (aunque tambien venga en el idioma Alemán)

Excelente trabajo, una pelicula de coleccion todo excelente viene subtitulada y con el audio original en frances, la recomiendo ampliamente.

Raw and engaging, this was my first Foreign movie i saw at the Cinema in the early 90s!