La Femme Nikita (1990)
Grade: 52
I had high expectations when I saw this movie. And it started well enough, only increasing the anticipation. But it quickly became unbelievable, full of the implausible events that only occur in action-adventure movies. All in all, it was something of a letdown. An okay film, but not the great film that I had been hoping for.
Our anti-heroine is first seen as part of a team of addicted punks breaking into a pharmacy to steal drugs. This robbery is a failure when the owner and, later, cops arrive. In a flood of bullets, nearly every dies except Nikita (aka Marie, Josephine, cutie).
In the aftermath of the raid, Nikita kills a cop for the pleasure of it. This, plus several violent fits of temper, gets her a death sentence which is commuted so that she can become a government-paid assassin. This is the premise of the film, but is not credible. Perhaps the French government does have assassins on the payroll, but they wouldn't recruit feral killers for the job.
Nikita has three years of training. This includes makeup and femininity lessons that supposedly transform her from bitch to beauty. She also has martial arts classes. At one point she bites her instructor and then jubiliantly dances afterwards. Her mentor is delighted with this. Only in a film would this happen. In real life he would be furious.
Released in the world to wait for an assignment, Nikita immediately obtains a boyfriend. Gender roles are reversed in this relationship. She is the aggressor and sets the plans, while he constantly wants to talk and probe for info about her past.
Nikita's first assignment is to kill several people who just happen to be together in the same restaurant with her when she gets the assignment. Lots of people die in the ensuing shootout, but not Nikita. She is told of an escape route that is shown to be sealed up. This is supposed to be another test for her. Instead of being angry at her mentor for this treachery, she kisses him. Huh?
A later assignment has Nikita busting a hotel window, pointing a rifle into the streets for several minutes, eventually shooting someone in front of several others, and making no effort to leave the scene. Huh?
A third assignment again has bodies falling all around Nikita, but her charmed existence continues unharmed. An elaborate scheme is set up over six months to obtain the papers in a diplomat's safe. Would this really be worth the body count to the French government? Well...
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