Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

River Phoenix co-stars in this political thriller as "Jeff Grant", an All-American teenager determined to enrol in the Air Force Academy to impress his parents. What he's never known is that his dad and mom (Richard Jenkins, Caroline Kava) are in reality Soviet "sleeper" agents that have long been residents of the U.S. of A. FBI agent Roy Parmenter (Sidney Poitier) finds this out, and goes out of his way to befriend Jeff, hoping to expose the parents. But while this is going on, a renegade Soviet agent, "Scuba" (Richard Lynch), is busy eliminating sleepers in hopes of a payoff. The KGB sends one of their top men, Konstantin Karpov (Richard Bradford), to apprehend Scuba."Little Nikita" is directed competently enough by actor / filmmaker Richard Benjamin ("My Favourite Year"), but it's almost defeated by an utterly lousy script, credited to John Hill and Bo Goldman. It has barely a believable moment, but, to be fair, the incredible absurdity of the dialogue and scenes is good for some laughs. Poitier does give the movie some life with a lively and jokey performance; he's amusing, helping to smooth over a lot of those rough spots. Phoenix is good as the kid who's confronted with this truth about his folks that seems impossible to swallow. In fact, it's this excellent cast (also including Jerry Hardin as Poitiers' superior, Loretta Devine as a guidance counsellor who gets into bed with Poitier, and a briefly seen Lucy Deakins as Jeffs' girlfriend) that makes this preposterous movie as entertaining as it is. It really goes off the rails towards the end, with a priceless climax that turns the parents into action heroes! This is followed by more nonsense - a standoff on a trolley, a denouement on a border crossing.Somewhat fun on a no-brainer level, but Phoenix's next picture, "Running on Empty", about another average American kid forced to deal with an unpleasant reality about his folks, is superior.Six out of 10.

The Soviets suspect their agent nicknamed Scuba (Richard Lynch) is killing their deep agents and blackmailing them. They send agent Karpov (Richard Bradford) to stop him. In San Diego, FBI agent Roy Parmenter (Sidney Poitier) has been hunting Scuba for killing his partner. He discovers false information on the Air Force Academy application of Jeffrey Grant (River Phoenix) and suspects his parents Richard (Richard Jenkins) and Elizabeth (Caroline Kava).There are a lot of dead bodies and it seems only Parmenter is on the case. The Russian characters are too Russian. They are literally meeting at the ballet. Despite having some great actors, this doesn't have the needed gritty realism. The idea of Russian sleeper agents in the suburbs could be interesting but this is not well executed. River Phoenix continues to be great. His next movie 'Running on Empty' has a superior family with secret identities.

Irritating All - American Air Force recruit discovers his parents have a dark secret.They are Soviet "sleeper" agents,infiltrated into the U.S. twenty years earlier but never called upon until other "Sleepers" start turning up dead.Elderly FBI agent uses him to entrap a maverick Russian hit-man.Hard to say whether "Little Nikita" was aimed at the potential audience of irritating young All - Americans who might identify with the late Mr River Pheonix or the retirees who would root for Mr Sidney Poitier. Comic Book Russians flood San Diego to stop their "sleepers" from being assassinated,but are failing dismally until the FBI - in the form of "deniable" Mr Poitier - become involved. He is a frisky 60 -odd,still able to bed the local school Principal whilst wearing his underpants in case of unexpected visitors,a propitious action in the event as young Mr Pheonix bursts in on them in flagrante. In the era of Reagan - Gorbachov "Glasnost" Mr Poitier and his Comic Book Russian counterpart warily reach out and settle the problem without causing a Diplomatic Incident by hurriedly smuggling the villain across the Mexican border.Phew!That was a close call. Presumably the irritating Young All - American's Pinko - Commie illegal immigrant parents get a free pass because that's the way it is in California,folks. "Little Nikita" is not exciting,it's not funny,it just....well, "is"..I suppose.You watch it,there's a "yeah,well..." shrugging moment and you carry on worrying about when Russia is going to cut off gas supplies to the European Union.The Bear's claws may have been blunted but there's more than one way to skin a cat,Comrades.

"Little Nikita" is just another thriller with one difference. It has two great actors: Sidney Poitier and River Phoenix. Poitier is great actor and I have to say that R.Phoenix was that too. Phoenix is great in this role and he really showed bags of abilities. It is petty that we can't watch Phoenix brothers together on screen today. So story of this movie is pretty messed up. There is lot of going on but I just don't have the felling that there is right connection with everything and that director Benjamin did his job well. His filming is like we're watching B movie with two star actors (what it is). There is particularly one scene that I disliked: when River almost hits the camera, in that scene in a living room when he's with his parents and Russian Konstantin is on the phone. Why this wasn't cut, I don't know. One thing that I also didn't liked is that again the whole story is about Americans and Russians. About Russian spies and agents who are bad and American FBI agents who are all of course good.I have nothing to recommend, you really don't have to watch this movie. I just watched it because of late River Phoenix. Actually he's the only reason why you should decide to watch this movie ever.