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La Femme Nikita (Special Edition)
Stars:
Anne Parillaud, Jean-Hughes Anglade, Tcheky Karyo, Jean Moreau, Jean Reno, Marc
Duret, Philippe Leroy-Beauliu, Jaques Boudet, Philipe du Janerand, and Jean
Bouise
Writer:
Luc Besson
Director:
Luc Besson
Feature
length: 117 minutes
Extras:
“The Sound Of Nikita” Featurette, “Revealed: The Making Of La Femme
Nikita” Documentary, Programming Nikita: Interactive Map, Poster Gallery,
Theatrical Trailer
Languages:
French and English Language Dubbed Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions and English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 32
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1990/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Home
Video Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Imitated,
remade, and even inspiring a TV series by the same name, “La Femme Nikita”
remains one of Writer and Director Luc Besson’s best films. Some like it more
than “Leon” AKA “The Professional.” This film launched Besson’s career
as both a Writer and Director and an Executive Producer of actions films
globally. In recent years it seems that Besson has become more a movie mogul
producing films like “Kiss Of The Dragon” and “The Transporter” for Fox,
but despite the popularity of those films, I think they are imitations of films
that Besson would probably make better if he sat in the Director’s chair. My
friend kind of quoted it best on the way home from seeing “Terminator 3: Rise
Of The Machines.” He said, “I liked it, but I think Cameron would have done
a better job.” That is how I feel about films like “The Transporter” and
“Kiss Of The Dragon.” So I hope that if he isn’t already busy directing
something already, Besson will surprise us with a new creation instead the cold
variations of his own films he has produced.
Nikita
(Anne Parillaud) is the lone survivor of a blood bath after her lover and his
friends rob a drug store. She is sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting a
cop, but her death is faked and she is remade into a covert assassin for a
top-secret French Intelligence Agency. After a rocky start, she successfully
performs and survives her first assignment and then is allowed to leave the
agency and form a new identity. However it is not long after she starts a new
life, complete with a new boyfriend, that she discovers that her freedom comes
at a price to repay back society for her previous crimes by performing duties as
an assassin when called upon. Essentially she is a tool of the agency that
reprogrammed her. With her old life dead and her real life a forgery, Nikita
becomes confused over the morality of her duties and the star-crossed
relationship she has with her patient, but suspecting boyfriend (Jean-Hughes
Anglade) and the man who saved her when the agency had given up on her and was
ready to terminate her participation, played by Tcheky Karyo.
Though
his role is small, Jean Reno captured the imagination of audiences around the
world as “Victor, The Cleaner.” In fact Besson, who had already developed a
strong friendship with Reno through previous films, would make another film that
focused exclusively on another “Cleaner” character starring Reno that in
some ways has some definite thematic similarities to “La Femme Nikita” on a
truly emotional level. That film was “Leon,” which was released theatrically
in the States under the rather bland title “The Professional” in the mid
1990s.
With
two previous releases on DVD in Region One North America, MGM has released “La
Femme Nikita” on DVD for the second time (Another distributor released it on
DVD first) and has graced it with some new extra features. The anamorphic
widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio presentation looks better than what I recall
the two previous DVD releases looking like with more vibrant colors and detail,
but the picture quality is still grainy. I am unsure if the original theatrical
presentation was less polished in appearance because I did not see it
theatrically. However my guess is that this is the same source material MGM used
last time and maybe that is the best print they have. While a bit on the low
side, the French and English Language Dubbed Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtracks are discrete and well rounded. English Closed Captions for the
hearing impaired and English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded
onto the DVD as options too.
The
extra value materials include “The Sound Of Nikita” featurette (4:49), which
features a new interview with composer Eric Serra, whose music I think has also
inspired if not copied by a variety of American features. Then there is “Revealed: The Making Of Le Femme Nikita” (20:37), a
documentary with brand new cast interview clips that include Anne Parillaud,
Jean-Hughes Anglade, Tcheky Karyo, and Jean Reno among others. The oddity extra
feature is the interactive map entitled “Programming Nikita.” The viewer
will see a lot of target circles as if they were looking through a targeting
lens and they move about, but I could not highlight these circles with the
ever-changing images. All I could highlight were three little subtitles that
read “Training Room”, “Vanity Room” and “Bed Room.” When you
highlight these entries you get an approximately 30-second interview clip that I
guess was cut from the documentary revealing something about that aspect of the
story. The Easter egg can be found easily. Just highlight the “Sound Of
Nikita” options and hit the left arrow. The viewfinder on the gun will
highlight red, press enter on your remote control and one gets another quick 27
seconds with Tcheky Karyo discussing his character in relation to Nikita.
There
are two photos of one-sheet art and the theatrical trailer (2:19) as well as
bonus DVD trailers for “Die Another Day: Special Edition” (2:24), “The
Terminator: Special Edition” (1:06), “Platoon: Special Edition” (1:23) and
an “MGM Means Great Movies” promo (1:15) that wraps up the extra features
included on this DVD. The menus are for the most part well rendered with
animated transitions to standard interactive still frame menus and with the
exception of the “Programming Nikita: Interactive Map,” which I am not sure
what real purpose it serves, the rest of the menus are easy to navigate.
“La
Femme Nikita: Special Edition” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on
and offline from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Text Link Below!
La Femme Nikita (Special Edition)