thoughts about La Femme Nikita

This was the French version, not the American version starring Bridget Fonda. I remember being at a video store trying to get the French version and not being able to. I was disappointed. Still, life moved on in those early days of adolescence. Tonight I watched with rapt attention as Nikita transformed into a killer government agent. She started out as a drugged out hysterical killer and was turned into a lethal killer. The film starts out with a bang. The world, the story, the character are all established by minute 15. Then the film goes through a training phase. And when the film gets to the restaurant scene I was totally taken aback. I didn't see it coming at all. A present of a gun. Who she is to kill. It all happens in rapid succession. It's great filmmaking. Line into line, scene into scene the film is action packed. That's also another theme; Nikita's struggle with death. I was reading a screenwriting book last night which talked about the obstacles that happen during an action movie. It says the most common theme in them is the struggle with death. In La Femme Nikita she has to struggle with death throughout the whole movie. When she is in training she has to prove herself or else get killed. Her former life eliminated, she is in a life or death struggle to remain alive. The government agent makes demands of her. Tells her if you don't comply, your only alternative is death. Even at the end of the film she has to struggle with death. She runs away to escape the government which represents death. She has mentors throughout the film. First it is the government agent and the older woman. Then she is set on her own as an undercover agent living in the World undetected except when the phone rings and a person on the other line asks for Josephine, her code name.

I was thoroughly engrossed in the film. It kept my attention. Especially through the last half hour. Even though the assasination scene in Venice was a little too predictable. The entrance of Jean Reno really shakes things up. At first I didn't know who he was. I asked myself who is this actor? I should know who he is. He has been in a few films. I checked on IMDB.com and sure enough it was Jean Reno.

I couldn't get enough of the action and intrigue that the film plays to high emotion. It leads you on with false starts like the hotel bug job. What did happen anyway? It was a great film. It's no wonder it was made into a TV show. There could have been a sequel.