Nikita is well esconced in the '80s, even though it came out in 1990. The music, the clothing style, the hair styles, etc. For 80's nostalgia buffs, it works. My main problem with this film is in plot development. Some of the portions of the movie were disjointed. For example, when Bob informs Nikita she has 2 weeks to shape up or ship out in a box, nothing is shown of the transformation. All we see is Nikita being released to the outside world -- one has to make the assumption she has the skills necessary to be a spy/assassin and control of her psychotic nature. I also didn't believe Parraud's character falling for the checkout clerk in such a quick fashion and actually maintaining anything like a normal life (outside of her other life as an assassin). Parraud goes a little over the top in trying to portray a psychotic woman, and when she sings her song about the mouse or jumps up on a chair pretending to be a gondolier, it's just pretty awful. I did like the camera work where they follow a bullet from her gun to a wall where a man was hiding. If Luc Besson made this movie today, there would be a lot more details in Nikita's character and in her special training as an assassin (a la Neo in the Matrix). After saying all that, however, I think Nikita is worth checking out because of its originality and being ahead of it's time.
Review of La Femme Nikita
