Nikita

This article is about the film entitled Nikita a.k.a. La Femme Nikita. For other uses, see Nikita (disambiguation).

Nikita (re-titled La Femme Nikita in some markets) is the title of a 1990 French movie written and directed by Luc Besson, and a Canadian television series of the same title, which was based upon the film.

Plot

Nikita stars Anne Parillaud as a convicted murderer who is recruited as a government assassin. In the film, Nikita is asked the origin of her name, and she replies that she is named after "une chanson"--a song--most likely 'Nikita', by Elton John.

Reception

The film received some positive reviews from critics including Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.

Remake

In 1993, Warner Bros. remade the film in English as Point of No Return (also known as The Assassin), directed by John Badham and starring Bridget Fonda in the title role of "Maggie." Nikita also served as inspiration for the 1991 Hong Kong action picture Black Cat, which closely followed the original film's storyline, but not enough to be called an outright remake.

TV series

The film was later spun off into the 1997 television series Nikita, which ran for five seasons on USA Network and generated a sizeable cult following of its own. It was created by Joel Surnow, who later co-created 24 with fellow Nikita executive consultant Robert Cochran.

Trivia

In the accompanying DVD interviews, Besson specifies that Nikita was a breakout movie for him, as he divides his career into pre-Nikita and post-Nikita phases.

External links