DVD
Upcoming Release Calendar
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Recent DVD/Video Releases
60
9
xx
Across the Hall
56
Adam
37
Amelia
73
Amreeka
35
Babysitters, The
70
Big Fan
57
Boys Are Back, The
81
Bright Star
71
Bronson
60
Brothers at War
55
Brothers Bloom, The
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
64
Che
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
23
Couples Retreat
54
Dare
68
Departures
19
Downloading Nancy
55
Endgame
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
27
Gamer
50
Give Me Your Hand
46
Halloween II
73
House of the Devil, The
94
Hurt Locker, The
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
17
I Hate Valentine's Day
26
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
83
In the Loop
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
41
Little Ashes
80
Lorna's Silence
33
Love Happens
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
xx
Ministers, The
67
Moon
59
More Than a Game
49
New York, I Love You
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
28
Pandorum
68
Paranormal Activity
85
Passing Strange
63
Perfect Getaway, A
44
Peter and Vandy
54
Pontypool
35
Post Grad
30
Saw VI
79
Serious Man, A
36
Serious Moonlight
76
Soul Power
40
Spiral
39
St. Trinian's
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
47
Time Traveler's Wife
43
Tru Loved
61
Trucker
47
Weather Girl
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
La Femme Nikita
EMAILPRINTSamuel Goldwyn Company
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 16 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 5 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by: Luc Besson
Directed by: Luc Besson
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 8, 1991
DVD: October 3, 2000
Running Time: 115 minutes, Color
Origin: France
Language(s): French (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: R
Starring Anne Parillaud, Marc Duret, Patrick Fontana, Alain Lathière, Laura Chéron, Jacques Boudet, and Helene Aligier
When a secret governmant agency re-programs a criminal named Nikita (Parillaud), she is released to the outside world as their agent. As her missions become more and more demanding, she is torn between her alliance to the agency and her desire to lead, for once, a normal life. (20th Century Fox)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Arthur and the Invisibles Big Blue: Director's Cut The Fifth Element The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc The Professional
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The making of the film is so slick, the acting so exceptional, that we find ourselves trapped - caring about what happens to the three principals. [6 May 1991, p.26]
Empire Staff (Not Credited)
One of the most cinematic movies to come along in a while, with sparse dialogue, top-notch action and plenty of visual razzamatazz.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr
Besson is an accomplished technician, and his choice of shots-with an emphasis on bizarre, low angles, darting camera movements and large, abstract color fields-is consistently entertaining if not particularly expressive. [3 Apr 1991, Tempo, p.3]
Entertainment Weekly Lawrence O'Toole
It's like "The Terminator" as reimagined by the editors of French Vogue.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Ludicrous. Its logic flies out the window like a rocket. It's unbelievable and ridiculous... But fascinating it is.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kathleen Maher
Obviously, there's something going on here but I'm not convinced Besson knows what it is.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Always stylish and occasionally thrilling and never thoughtful.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Staff (Non Credited)
A supremely slick piece of entertainment where style triumphs over substance.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Michael Wilmington
Like the movies its modeled after, it's shallow, frequently silly. But there's something about the mix--maybe something about Parillaud as the screechy, dangerous Nikita--that may make the movie a powerful engine of wish-fulfillment. [12 Apr 1991, Calendar, p.F-10]
The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
The film, like Nikita herself, becomes more conventionally sleek and less interestingly bizarre as it moves along.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Disappointing. [6 Mar 1991, Life, p.9D]
Washington Post Hal Hinson
Parillaud is expressive but rather mundane. She's best at playing sullen, but there are so many French actresses who specialize in this particular talent -- the French have mastered the apathetic pout -- that she seems generic.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The picture, for all its slickness and style, is empty, empty-headed and emotionally false… [It] has no more depth than "Pretty Woman" and occupies the same moral landscape. [5 Apr 1991, Daily Datebook, p.E11]
Variety Staff (Not Credited)
[Parillaud] remains a totally uninteresting figment of Besson's blinkered movieland imagination, especially when she's in the company of Karyo and Anglade, who provide balance to her overacting.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The talentless but irrepressibly trendy Luc Besson ("Subway," "The Big Blue") dreamed up this idiotic story that seems vaguely inspired by Kubrick's (not Anthony Burgess's) "A Clockwork Orange."
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Beercan gave it an8:
One the few movies in recent years that manages to transcend a completely idiotic storyline and ham-fisted filmmaking by sheer force of will. This movie hurls itself at you with all it's got, and a surprising amount of it sticks. Whatever La Femme Nikita's faults, and there are many, what is undeniable is the sincerity and fury of the whole enterprise - and a handful of truly memorable action set-pieces. Visually deft, fluid, and often very funny, with a completely convincing lead performance by Parillaud. Not for everyone, especially Conservatives and other woman-haters, but lots of fun if you're game.
Yoon Min C. gave it a 3:
An obnoxious exercise in bloodletting borrowing freely from the worst violent stylistic excesses of Hong Kong and Hollywood movies. What's typically French is the delirious herione who seems to be storming the Bastille. Or, is it that time of the month? It's something like Taming of the Shrew with guns. Guys into kinky killer babes might enjoy this; so might embittered feminists who might find the idea of a killer woman--regardless of her retardedness--empowering. Me, I just wanted to shout 'put a cork in it' and in more ways than one.
