Starring: Bridget Fonda, Gabriel Byrne, Dermot Mulroney, Anne Bancroft, Harvey Keitel
Director: John Badham
Producer: Art Linson
Screenplay: Robert Getchell and Alexander Seros, based on Luc Besson's La Femme
Nikita
Music: Hans Zimmer
Released by Warner Brothers Pictures
Strung out and needing a fix, Maggie (Bridget Fonda) and the other members of her gang target a drugstore for robbery. Things go wrong, the cops show up, and a fierce gunfight ensues. When it's all over, a police officer finds Maggie cowering in a corner. Without hesitation, she shoots him in the head. After being taken in, Maggie is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. However, she is offered a reprieve -- all she has to do is agree to work for "The Government" as an assassin. Her mentor as she trains for this new "career" is Bob (Gabriel Byrne), who informs her that if she doesn't apply herself, she'll be eliminated. Maggie gets the message and soon becomes one of the most promising trainees.
Point of No Return makes few changes from its French inspiration, Luc Besson's gripping La Femme Nikita. In fact, the American version is so close to original that in many cases it's more like a translation than a remake (camera angles and dialogue are frequently identical). Director John Badham (Stakeout) obviously made a detailed study Nikita before starting production of Point of No Return. While the details of the last caper are changed and the ending has been manicured, there are no large scale alterations.
One of the reasons that Point of No Return is so enjoyable is that very much unlike the average, formula-driven thriller. This film is fresh and taut, featuring a script with a few twists and turns and a heroine who is simultaneously sympathetic and murderous.
While the direction and camerawork in Point of No Return is inferior to that of Nikita, Bridget Fonda is an effective American replacement for Anne Parillaud. There's a subtle difference in characterization -- Fonda brings more regret to Maggie than Parillaud does to Nikita. Maggie is distraught at each killing she participates in; it takes longer for the effects of Nikita's job to wear her down. These changes give the audience a slightly different perspective of the story and its central character.
Gabriel Byrne is adequate as Bob, but Dermot Mulroney is ineffectual. I never bought the relationship between his J. P. and Maggie. At its best, it's contrived; at its worst, it's completely implausible. Mulroney does nothing to flesh out his character. He is, without a doubt, the weakest link of Point of No Return, even as Harvey Keitel's deadpan performance as Victor the Cleaner is the apex.
I'm not convinced there was a compelling reason to remake La Femme Nikita. The original stands well on its own, and, having been made only a few years ago, it's definitely not dated. Nevertheless, mainstream American audiences hate subtitles, so this won't be the last foreign language film to receive this treatment. In terms of style and originality, Point of No Return can't compare to its inspiration, but, for a Hollywood thriller, it's more than adequate.
© 1993, 1996 James Berardinelli