12/09/2020
Nikita, Nikita, Nikita. Today I’ll explore the franchise based on the 1990 action film, “La Femme Nikita”, which spawned a movie remake and two TV shows over some 20+ years. Different actors pursue similar plot lines in each. In all three iterations, we watch as this damaged young woman fights for her freedom and humanity against the forces of evil.
The 1990 French film (my rating=3.5) stars Anne Parillaud in the title role playing a delinquent street teenager who gets in with a bad crowd, eventually gets arrested for a serious crime and is sentenced to life in prison. Because of her beauty, cunning and lack of family ties, a shadowy organization, referred to as the Centre, fakes her death and offers her a choice: train and work as an assassin for them or take up residence in her fake grave. She choses the former and is trained and groomed to become a femme fatale secret agent. There are several missions and she falls in love with a civilian while living in Paris. In the end, she becomes disenchanted with her life and disappears. This is a solid film with good dubbing that is not distracting in the least.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100263/
In 1993, Luc Besson, who directed the 1990 film, wrote a remake called Point of No Return. Bridget Fonda plays the title. If I ever saw that movie, I don't remember it much, so I can’t comment on it.
The 1997 TV series “La Femme Nikita” (my rating=3.9) ran for 5 seasons and starred blonde, Australian actress Peta Wilson in the title role. It was a highly rated drama and the cancellation was due to Wilson wanting to be released early to play Jean Gray in the X-men. When the producers refused, she then refused to renew her contract for the series. The initial story line is similar to that of the original movie, except the organization is now called Section One and they frame her for murder in order to recruit her. So she starts her life as an assassin having never committed murder before. Again, she is groomed for her work and sent on many missions. She has a complicated relationship with her handler, Michael and this relationship is a key and complex thread throughout this series and the next. Episodes are well written and acted with great attention to detail and personal growth of the characters. The main characters are supported by great ancillary figures including Madeline, a sophisticated mentor of female wiles and Seymour Birkoff, a communications and computer genius. There is lots of action and martial arts, complex story lines and good special effects. While the Centre in the original movie seemed to be somewhat nefarious, this Section One seems to have more good-guy vibes, but is still ruthless.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118379/
In 2010, the series was reprised as just “Nikita” with Maggie Q in the title role (my rating=4.0) The action picks up here with Nikita having been in hiding for the last 3 years after escaping from the US government program called Division. Now Nitika has returned and fights to expose this covert operation and save the agents forced to work for nefarious ends. Along the way, she manages to go on exciting, edge-of-your-chair missions for good causes. All the main characters return as well as some new ones. This is my favorite iteration, maybe because I am a big Maggie Q fan, but also the 4 seasons feature a strong, overarching, coherent plot line with a great ending. It still has plenty of action, good scripts and lots of plot twists.
If you like empowered, gorgeous women in action dramas, you can’t go wrong with any of these.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1592154/
Created by Joel Surnow. With Peta Wilson, Don Francks, Eugene Robert Glazer, Roy Dupuis. Aclandestine anti-terrorist organization fakes the death of a convicted murderer and trains her in the fighting skills necessary to succeed in her new job.