Nikita [Blu-ray]

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.

This 1990 French Italian co-production both written and directed by Luc Beeson about the transformation of a convicted drug-crazed street waif superbly played Anne Parillaud who is given the choice of the death sentence given to her for her crimes being carried out or joining a programme to become a sophisticated highly trained assassin/spy her mentor/control is ably played by Tchéky Karyo who has appeared in American productions such as "Bad Boys" and "The Patriot".Luc Beeson's action thriller very much is in the modern film noir style has a couple of themes and scenes that he repeats in his later movies such as "Léon the professional" and "Colombiana" but don't be fooled Nikita is the first and the best of his creations.The region B locked 25 GB Blu-ray released in the UK in 2009 this disc has been encoded using MPEG-4 AVC in full 1080p resolution in the original aspect ratio 2.35.1 of the theatrical release thankfully this version of the film has not been dubbed but is in French LPCM stereo 48KHZ which gives the soundtrack a very clear and bombastic sound which delivers very satisfying gunfire sound and deep rumbling explosions for film of this vintage and with very clear white subtitles that appear in the lower part of the frame if you are follower of Beeson's work this is a must for your Blu-ray collection.

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

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.

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。

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)