Nikita [DVD]

Amazon.co.uk Review French director Luc Besson broke the commercial taboo against female-driven action movies with Nikita, his seminal, seductively slick film about a violent street punk (Anne Parillaud) trained to become a smooth, stylish assassin. Though it amounts, in the end, to little more than disposable pop, the film has a cohesiveness in style and tone--akin to the early James Bond films--that gives it a sense of integrity. Parillaud is compelling both as a wild child and chic-but-lethal pro (trained in good manners by none other than Jeanne Moreau). Tchéky Karyo is also good as the cop mentor who develops feelings for her. --Tom Keogh Product Description Anne Parillaud plays Nikita, a nihilistic punk who is given a life sentence for killing a policeman. Without warning she is transferred to a secret training centre where the mysterious Bob (Tchéky Karyo) transforms her into a ruthless government assassin. Directed by Luc Besson, the film was remade in America as 'The Assassin' in 1993.