Nikita

Anne Parillaud in the 1990 movie classic “La Femme Nikita”, never opened a can of whoop-ass on someone she didn’t like. A junkie slated for execution for her part in a robbery gone wrong, “Nikita” is given a last minute reprieve, provided she agrees to become a trained assassin for French government. All of which suits an adorable little sociopath like Nikita just fine.

Do yourself a favor and skip the terrifically bad American version of this film (“Point of No Return” with Bridget Fonda who will never be forgiven for that travesty) and stick with the original. You don’t want to miss Jeanne Moreau teaching our little Nikita a thing or two, or three, or four, about the wily ways of females getting what they want.

But what continues to strike me about this film is the use of discipline. Unwavering discipline. After a few years of being locked up in killer-school, Nikita is taken out to dinner by her handler, Bob, only to discover that it’s a final exam she hadn’t exactly studied for. But after a brief freak out, Bang! Zoom! Nikita switches off all thought and just goes on autopilot. The nearly executed junkie has finally learned a thing or two about control and whether that ultimately ends up being a good thing or not, I’ll leave up to you.

An absolutely hilarious moment in the film is when Nikita, after years of being training to kill people, is sent out on her first mission. She is dressed up as a hotel maid and sent to a guest’s room to deliver a teapot with a bug planted inside. She delivers. She leaves. And she’s thinking to herself the entire time: is that it after all this training? It certainly makes one wonder whether or not that one scene sums up the majority of covert ops: bug planting.

But the movie soon kicks into high gear of assassinations galore. Fanciful? Yup. Far fetched? Totally. Positively thrilling? Abso-freakin-lutely.