Thanks for the memories!

Such a frustrating disappointment

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Disappointing American remake of the French action classic LA FEMME NIKITA, this by-the-by action affair contains far too much talk and only two or three actually exciting scenes of action. These outbreaks of violence are refreshingly well photographed and well choreographed with it, but the majority of the film focuses on unwanted characterisation and even sentimentalising - pointless in a supposed thriller such as this.Amid the pointless bickering and stifling debate, we actually have some pretty good actors hiding here who lend more credence to their lines than they really should. In particular, Gabriel Byrne excels as Fonda's softly-spoken mentor with an eye on her wellbeing. Dermot Mulroney is also fine in a sympathetic role, while Harvey Keitel is superb as "the cleaner", a character who disposes of corpses by pouring acid on their faces! One of my favourite actors, Miguel Ferrer, pops up but is criminally underused in a corporate role that requires him to sit behind a desk and do nothing. On top of all this, there's even a cameo by Geoffrey Lewis. Sadly, the fine acting of these people is overshadowed by that of Bridget Fonda, who is truly pathetic as the guilt-stricken female assassin. Not only is Fonda far too thin and weedy to convince as a trained killer, her acting skills are limited and simply not enough to carry the film upon.Despite some nifty action scenes, full of shooting and explosions, this is disappointingly shallow stuff. Sure, it passes the time and is photographed well enough to at least LOOK good, but behind it all you simply have to wonder what the point was when the film had already been made once. A missed opportunity.

Bridget Fonda gave a magnificent performance as Maggie in this suspenseful thriller. I'm currently watching the recent TV series NIKITA and thought it would be cool to see the original, but downloading the trailer of the Luc Besson film, I just decided no way. I had seen this movie POINT OF NO RETURN when it was first doing its pay-channel rounds, but now, watching it on DVD, and looking at it with NIKITA hindsight, I really appreciate it. Every nuance of the fine acting by Bridget was just now slurped up... She is both harsh and soft, vulnerable and volatile, excellent casting. She gave a lot to the character, but that's her pedigree showing. After all, she was in a stinker of a failed movie a couple of years before, LEATHER JACKETS*, in which she managed to shine despite the whole thing being a sunken ship before the voyage even got under way. An action movie with a complex female lead. Compare this to regular cardboard character (male) action heroes! *my regular followers are shaking their heads. He's talking about LEATHER JACKETS yet again!Bridget Fonda's eyes are what makes POINT OF NO RETURN great! Added to that, she is very light on her feet, and moves like an elegant yacht. Look at her when she comes up those stairs in the restaurant assassination scene.Another interesting bit is how it is clear to me that Quentin Tarantino watched this movie back there in the video shops. He later cast Harvey Keitel in a similar role, no, rather an over- the-top celebration of this in PULP FICTION, and Bridget was in his JACKIE BROWN, complete with a bare foot soles scene (just more elaborated on) such as around halfway in this movie. And coincidentally, Bridget's character's name in LEATHER JACKETS was Claudi, here Claudia is an assumed name. Also, in the recent TV series we have Maggie Q playing NIKITA who was at least in part inspired by Maggie Hayward. And, by the way, Bridget was named after Bridget Hayward, born out of her father's first marriage. Okay, silly trivia, I will shut up now...

I got a chance to re-visit this movie on blu-ray years of having watched it on film, then VHS, I can honestly say...what a rebirth.The set-up is almost a shot-by-shot remake...but BOY does John Badham do it right. I LOVE the look of this movie. This is the reason you shoot movie on film. And why it should also be shot in anamorphic. The transfer is crisp and clean and sharp as a tack. The black is true black. Digital black is AWFUL. The color and contrast is superb to anything the Alexa, Red, or Canon can accomplish. This is a fact. If you can't see it, you're blind.As for the content, it's not terrible re-do for America. The one thing that the original brought to it more succinctly is the clandestine international flair. This seemed a bit...odd. Sure there are covert operators here doing dirty deeds. But it's hard to believe Gabriel Byrne being one of them. Bridget Fonda does a decent job. She plays the tomboy well, however, the sleek sophisticate...not so much. At the time, she was perfect. By the trivia, it seems Halle Berry may've been too young, but a Jodie Foster would've made it much more intellectual.Was there a reason for the remake? Probably not. I recall having watched "Nikita" first, outraged they'd remake it. As I've gotten older, this version is fine.

OK telling of a recruited wild woman who is trained for dangerous undercover missions.Bridget Fonda is sizzling after she styles her hair and shaves under her arms. Gabriel Byrne is the taskmaster who is torn between offering her tough assignments and hoping she doesn't get her pretty little head blown off during the next mission.Good action with a solid performance by Anne Bancroft as Bridget's hardened etiquette teacher who may or may not be a lesbian.I am somewhat puzzled by all the negative reviews on this forum; this film is worth a look for action fans and Bridget Fonda admirers.