Nikita [La femme Nikita] (1990)

(Second Viewing, on DVD, August 2020) Coming from the middle of Luc Besson’s classic period (from 1985’s Subway to 1997’s The Fifth Element), Nikita is probably the one film you could showcase in order to show Besson’s strengths as a writer-director without veering into his excesses or self-parody. It features a strong action heroine, distrust of authority, grimy cinematography, Jean Reno, dynamic direction and strong action sequences. At least half a dozen of his later movies would revisit the same elements to various degrees of success but never as successfully. Remade stateside as Point of No Return, the original Nikita has a believable rawness of execution that more than compensate for nonsensical plot justifications. (Seriously: the covert government agency she works for is the worst possible one at what it does… but it heightens the drama.) Even those with fresh memories of the remake will find much to appreciate in the original. I probably saw the original in the mid-nineties, but still had a good time watching it anew. The premise and its execution are ridiculous: yes, let’s send an unpractised operative on an assassination mission and give her thirty seconds to prepare… that’ll go over well. As I said: “worst possible agency.” But Nikita is not so much about solid plotting than Besson’s nervy direction, Anne Parillaud’s performance and the torn stockings accessorizing big guns during the action sequences. Even thirty years and countless hitwomen movies later, this influential action thriller is still worth a watch.