POINT OF NO RETURN
A film review by Sally Smith
Copyright 1993 Sally Smith
Starring Bridget Fonda, Gabriel Byrne, Dermot Mulroney, Anne Bancroft, Harvey Keitel, and Miguel Ferrer Directed by John Badham Screenplay by Robert Getchell and Alexandra Seros (based on Luc Besson's NIKITA) Director of Photography Michael Watkins, ASC Rated R for violence and language
A lengthy disclaimer is in order here. I never saw the French film of which this is evidently a close remake. While I have seen several of director John Badham's movies, I have no great feelings about them, either positive or negative. And I have never seen Bridget Fonda in a film, nor do I recall seeing many of the other actors before (I've seen Anne Bancroft, okay?). Nor am I a particularly big aficionado of the action genre.
That said, I will tell you that I was eagerly awaiting the release of this film, simply because I am a great admirer of its director of photography. I've been watching Michael's TV work for several years and was anxious to see what he could do with a wide screen and a decent budget.
The plot: Bridget Fonda is Maggie, a drug addict who is given a choice; either accept training as an assassin for an unnamed government agency, or be executed for a murder she committed. Some choice. She's trained in dirty work by Gabriel Byrne, and in the niceties of polite society by Anne Bancroft, then sent out to complete her missions, which are all quite nicely slam-bang (stunt coordinator Mic Rodgers did the "Lethal Weapon" series). Things go well for a while, until Maggie falls in love, develops a conscience, and decides she'd really rather not kill people for a living.
Fonda is very good at showing Maggie's transition from feral street creature to human being with feelings. Byrne manages to be somehow both cold-blooded and increasingly sympathetic, Bancroft is a delight as the Miss Manners of the assassin set, Keitel is perfect in a small but important role as Victor the Cleaner (he cleans up everything and everyone after the other assassins), and Ferrer turns in another of his patented Jack-Webb-with-PMS performances. Mulroney, alas, is more than a little dumb as the love interest. Sharp-eyed viewers will spot the director as a room service waiter; *really* sharp-eyed viewers will spot the director of photography as one of the many guys with guns in the final big shoot-out. Refreshingly, the computers in the movie (mostly Macs) behave like *real* computers!
What sets this film apart from others of the genre is that the woman is the one with the heavy firepower. I'm reminded of the old saying that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and wearing heels; well, here, Bridget Fonda does everything Arnie, Sly et al do, only in a variety of tight, short dresses and panty hose (I must admit that impressed *me*). There is also a greater emphasis on character development and emotional relationships than in the average shoot'em-up. There's actually less gratuitous violence than I had been led to believe -- less, for example, than LETHAL WEAPON 3. In other words, to get stereotypical and sexist here, it's a movie with enough action for a guy, but enough story and emotion that his girlfriend won't get bored either (my husband agrees with me on this).
As to the reason I went in the first place, I was indeed well pleased with the cinematography. It's lovely, stylish, atmospheric, imaginative, and inventive (much of the opening sequence was shot in Super 8 anamorphic, for example!), and I'm going to go see the movie again just to *look* at it now that I won't be distracted by the plot. It was ... well ... Really Neat.
In conclusion, POINT OF NO RETURN offers some great action and nice acting, good direction, effective use of music (score by Hans Zimmer, many songs by Nina Simone), and awesome camera work. I can recommend it.
-- Sally Smith (510)790-0608 sallylb@netcom.com (I was sally@tardis.tymnet.com) .
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